The ART of DELIVERY Is a Compilation of Selected Extempore Remarks, and the ﬁrst of a Trilogy, by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, Nigeria

DICKS The ART of DELIVERY is a compilation of selected extempore remarks, and the ﬁrst of a trilogy, by Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State, Nigeria. ON

In this book, the reader will encounter the robustness of Governor Dickson's DICKSON remarks delivered extempore with striking ability to inspire and engage its audience in a manner that is most compelling. Governor Dickson is an orator of a different hue. He speaks authoritatively with penetrating intellectual depth typical of most great leaders in the world, both past and present. THE ART OF DELIVERY The road to restoration GOVERNOR HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON A PROFILE

Governor Henry Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa State in Nigeria has, by his performance in ofﬁce, underscored the critical role of leadership in strategic restructuring and effective governance. THE ART OF DELIVERY

He has changed the face of development, sanitized the polity, and encouraged participatory governance. The emerging economic prosperity in Bayelsa is a product of vision and courage.

Dickson, 48, is an exceptional leader whose foresight on the diversiﬁcation of the state’s economy beyond oil and gas to focus more on tourism and agriculture holds great promise of economic boom.

A lawyer, former Attorney-General of Bayelsa State and member of the National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association, he was elected to the House of Representatives in 2007 and re-elected in 2011, where he served as the Chairman, House Committee on Justice.

His star was further on the rise when he was elected governor of Bayelsa State by popular acclamation later in 2012. He has been an agent of positive change, challenged the status quo and re-invented the architecture of Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson governance in a peaceful and resourceful environment. Governor of Bayelsa State

DICKSON THE ART OF DELIVERY The road to restoration

Compiled and Revised by: Daniel IworisoMarkson Chief Press Secretary to the Bayelsa State Governor

Edited by: Sully Abu Dr. Jeanee Gibson

ISBN: 9789789380008

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system or transmied in any form or by any means without prior wrien permission from the publisher CONTENTS

P11 PROLOGUE Address on his intention to run for the oﬃce of Governor of Bayelsa state

P12 INTENTION Text of the address delivered by Hon. Henry Seriake on his intention to run for the oﬃce of Governor of Bayelsa state.

P24 LOOKING FORWARD Inaugural speech on the occasion of his swearing in as governor of Bayelsa state Remarks on the occasion of a dinner held in his honour and for his deputy Remarks on the occasion of the breaking of 3day fast and prayer meeting for the restoration of Bayelsa state

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 02 P44 BUDGETS OF RESTORATION 2013 Budget Address at the presentation of the 2013 Appropriation Bill for the Governorʹs assent

P59 ACCOUNTABILITY: THE TRANSPARENCY BRIEFINGS Transparency briefing for the month of January 2012 Transparency briefing for the months of March and April 2012 Transparency briefing for the month of May 2012 Transparency briefing for the month of June 2012 Transparency briefing for the month of July 2012 Transparency briefing for the month of November 2012 Transparency briefing for the months of February and March 2013

143 AGENCIES SET UP TO DELIVER RESULTS Inauguration of the board of the Bayelsa state construction and dredging company Presentation of cheques for NECO and WAEC and inauguration of education inspection commission Inauguration of the commiee on youth development and empowerment Inauguration of the pensions and gratuity commiee Inauguration of 12member board of the Bayelsa state Agricultural Development Company Limited Inauguration of the State Empowerment and Expenditure For Result Project (SEEFOR) commiee Inauguration of the Bayelsa State Commiee on Entrepreneurial Capacity Development Inauguration of the Governing Council of the Niger Delta University

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 03 P143 BOOSTING TOURISM · AMAA awards fundraising dinner in Abuja · A speech at the 2013 speech edition of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Award

P154 ĲAW RESTORATION Inauguration of the newly elected Ijaw National Congress Executive Council Remarks at the state banquet to mark Major Adaka Boro Day Address on the occasion of the 2012 World Ijaw Day Celebration Address at an interactive meeting with leaders of the Ijaw nation in the state Address at the commissioning of IzonWari building in the state

P176 AGENDA FOR DEVELOPMENT Address at the launch of the new transport scheme in the state Address at a 3day conference of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) Address to Bayelsa state civil servants Address at a retreat organised by government in conjunction with ASCON for permanent secretaries Address at a meeting with PDP stakeholders at the partyʹs secretariat Address at the presentation of free school uniforms and other materials Address to the National Executive Commiee meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association

P236 HONOURING BAYELSAʹS BIRTH Text of the radio broadcast to commemorate the 16th anniversary

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 04 of the creation of Bayelsa state Remarks at a special thanksgiving service at the King of Glory chapel in Government House Remarks at the presentation of cheques to pensioners

P256 WALKING THE TALK AN INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY: Signing the Bayelsa State Judiciary Autonomy Bill – Remarks to the Universal Basic Education board and others Remarks at the presentation of the N3 billion cheque to SETRACO for the completion of the OgbiaNembe road project Remarks during a solidarity visit by Bayelsa state PDP delegation to the new PDP chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muʹazu Remarks and answers to the mediaʹs questions on the local government election at Toru Orua, Sagbama local government area Remarks shortly aer visiting accident victims Remarks at the sending forth of the ﬁrst batch of trainees to the Songhai farms in Benin Republic (Page 335) Remarks during the courtesy visit by D.G. SMEDAN Speech at the presentation of monthly stipends to the elderly under the Bayelsa State Welfare and Social Security Scheme

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 05 PREFACE

The challenges of leadership and governance as they relate to delivery on policies and programmes form the kernel of the book, Dickson: The Power of Delivery. It is a fascinating work which aempts to lay bare the daunting task of repositioning the development track in the state as well as the triumphs, chronicling the stewardship of Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson as the Governor of Bagels State as evident in this compilation speeches delivered extempore by the man fondly referred to as the countryman governor.

From the beginning to the end, the character and vision of the governor reﬂects sharply on the issues of development in the various sectors of the state economy. Understandably so because of the obvious hurry to develop the state and make impact on the lives of the people and indeed as a democratic imperative. The Power of Delivery is thus arranged in sequence to explain the raison detre for the various development initiatives executed by the government and the achievements recorded.

Starting from the establishment of institutions and processes, particularly on the need for prudence and accountability, the book

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 06 logically presents the way and manner developmental projects were initiated and consummated resulting in marked transformation by the state government within a short period of time.

The declaration of emergency in education, for instance, was targeted at addressing the acute shortage in infrastructure and quality in the sector as a necessity in building relevant manpower for the development of the state. This was obviously in realisation that a proper education for the young people is arguably the most important ingredient in the development process. The proclamation of state of emergency in the educational sector was a ﬁing step by the Restoration Government to address the rot in the educational sector and as we have seen in the last three years, the transformation in the sector had been phenomenal. Additional incentives to boost educational development also had solid backing in the various scholarship awards up to PhD in highly rated institutions locally and abroad. Considering the pivotal role of education in human and societal advancement and in contrast to the abysmal situation inherited by the government in this critical sector, the steps taken by Dickson administration clearly stands out as a welcome development.

We also follow through in The Power of Delivery to connect with the bright ideas behind the huge aention devoted to infrastructure provision by the Dickson Administration. The rationale being that development would be beer and faster with infrastructure in place particularly roads and bridges connecting the three senatorial districts of the state. Accordingly, the administration carried out the construction of a total of 350km roads and critical bridges from February 14th 2012 when the administration came on board and they are contributing to the growth of the state economy through inter linkages now facilitating easy movement of goods and persons from one location to the other in Bayelsa State.

The essential value in The Power of Delivery on governmentʹs policies and programmes also received greater impetus and realism in the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 07 context of farsighted development agenda when we take a deep look at the longterm implications of the diversification of the stateʹs economy, by emphasizing the development of tourism and agriculture as the economic future of the state. The understanding being that over reliance on oil as the economic mainstay in the state was not a realistic strategy to true development particularly in the face of dwindling revenue and other vagaries in both the international market and in the local condition. Diversifying the stateʹs economy was indeed a realistic step taken by the Dicksonled Restoration government and going by the sharp fall in the price of crude in the world market, the administration must be applauded for its foresightedness. Fundamentally, therefore, diversification has led to reorientation of the people to appreciate and take up business enterprise, build businesses, create more jobs, become selfreliant, happy and prosperous. This new idea found remarkable expression in agriculture just as the dynamic strides in tourism development is achieving same effect though in relative terms. Even with the cautious view that optimal utilisation of the tourism sector manifesting much later when the ongoing infrastructure in hotels, golf courses, airport, etc are fully on stream. Bayelsa State is already being hailed as the entertainment capital in Nigeria having played host to a number of high profile entertainment events of global reckoning in recent times.

Also besides development of human capital, which the book locates in the aggressive promotion of SMEs, the establishment of the Bayelsa Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC) as a powerful vehicle to facilitate funding of projects remains ingenious. Similar audacious development aempts like industrialization resulting in building petrochemical and fertiliser companies and in fact the establishment of the Agge deep seaport are such uncommon narrative of ambitious development initiatives.

This is the basis for the massive provision of public infrastructure in Bayelsa State and invariably boosting economic development, leading to socioeconomic revival and social stability. Allocation of resources

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 08 was done in an eﬃcient manner and ensuring value for money spent while all leakages were blocked to also free resources for development and thereby enhancing optimal delivery.

But there was also an institutional foundation to the overall stability: the government established a robust security system to tackle the menace of criminality and all forms of antisocial behaviour as a deliberate action to restore law and order. Thus Operation Doo Akpor with such modern and sophisticated security system helped to ensure that peace returned to the state and this was the beginning of the new era of socioeconomic transformation.

What The Power of Delivery consciously narrates in the main is the utility of leadership and vision in public administration and in particular the intricate business of governance. It is a recurring issue in contemporary discourse on why government exists as a function of the high expectations of the people in a democracy and meeting the challenges of the day. Basically, that governments should endeavour as a maer of necessity to deliver on the basic provision of infrastructure, public amenities, create jobs, provide functional education and boost literacy, improve on the health condition of the people, provide security of lives and property, and of course, the requisite institutions and their processes in establishing order and decency in a society. Ultimately this has the tendency to usher in a renewal of hope and enterprise as society is inspired to see an array of possibilities set in motion by the leadership. Excellence as an integral part of development came into sharper focus in the book, completing the other variables of development: vision, goals, leadership and eﬃcient implementation.

Importantly, that such altruistic leadership and bold vision coupled with the power of delivery as the Bayelsa example demonstrates has signiﬁcant utility not only in creating happiness among the people but also goes a long way in making citizens believe in the political system and leadership and by implication in democracy as the best form of government. It is also very important in analysing political leadership

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 09 visavis the values shaping vision and expectations in a polity. Since governments exist to serve the people, we begin to see how far can a government go in oﬀering service and in the long run by which we can also measure responsibility and legitimacy.

As we have in this interesting book, such documentation of history and positive contents marks apart the Dickson Administration in delivery on policies and programmes when compared with previous administrations because of the power in the governmentʹs ability to deliver on what is termed The Restoration Agenda, being the manifesto of the PDP government in the state. But this can never be construed that previous governments didnʹt performeven in relative terms but that what we read in the Power of Delivery established in vivid dimensions the superiority and depth of achievements (and without bias) especially when the impact on the people both in the short and long run are put into proper perspectives. This is the inescapable deduction on the book as a valid test of leadership. It speaks to Governor Dicksonʹs commitment and convictions on the challenges facing the state and the route to restoration and indeed how he would want to be remembered as a leader. Arguably all the achievements in the Power of Delivery were not so easy to accomplish ...it had been a product of untold sacriﬁces even in the face of resistance by some institutional stakeholders. What counted strongly here was the political will to take decision in the public interest irrespective of how unpleasant such decision could be to vested interest groups especially in a political environment where sentiments and parochial inclination still interfere in the act of governance and public aﬀairs in general. And this essentially underlines the high point in the book, establishing the fact that the gamut of chronicle in The Power of Delivery is not just about innovative leadership but revolutionary.

Daniel IworisoMarkson

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 10 THE PAST AS PROLOGUE

The most striking feature of the minimanifesto read by Hon Henry Seriake Dickson as he declared his intention to run for Governor of Bayelsa state over two years ago is how faithful he has been, almost in every material particular, to the words of that declaration. This is why it is reproduced here as Prologue to what has been two years of a most remarkable performance in oﬃce as governor and chronicled in the speeches in this book.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 11 TO ALL BAYELSANS, WE BRING GOOD TIDINGS: CHANGE HAS COME

Text of the address delivered by Hon. Henry Seriake on his intention to run for the oﬃce of Governor of Bayelsa state

n 1986, at the age of 19, while my contemporaries were still enjoying the cosy comfort of their family homes, I joined the INigeria Police and learnt about service to my country, Nigeria, and fought crime and criminality in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Thirty years on, I am still in the trenches ﬁghting against crime and criminality, upholding the rights of the downtrodden and standing for our people; standing against bad governance and oppression of our people.

Today, I announce to you all that I report again for duty. This time to restore the lost glory and dashed hopes of our dear state. Today, I heed your call to oﬀer myself to restore Bayelsa State to its true glory in accordance with its founding principles as the Jerusalem of the entire Ijaw ethnic nationality. Today I publicly aﬃrm to you all my determination to reconcile all our people, to rally our people together and to lay the foundation for a Bayelsa of our dreams.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 12 CAMPAIGN IN KOLGA , L.G.A

Two weeks ago, I sent a leer to you my elders, leaders, women and youths of Bayelsa State of my intention to enter the gubernatorial race to salvage our dear state from the grip of anarchy, insecurity, bad governance and reckless abuse of state power and resources without a corresponding sense of honour, responsibility and compassion. In that leer I set out general principles that would form the basis of our development marking a paradigm shi in the governance culture. The principles are Transparency, Accountability and Service. I also highlighted key areas that our Government would focus on: massive investment in Education and Human Capital development, Infrastructure, Tourism development, Health, Agriculture to name but a few.

I come reporting for duty with a background of service to country and to my people. Between 1996 – 2005, I again learnt about service in various positions as the pioneer Publicity Secretary, Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Yenagoa from 19961998, State Chairman Alliance for Democracy (AD) 19982000, National Legal Adviser, Alliance for Democracy (AD) 20002002, National Legal Adviser of the foremost PanIjaw sociocultural body, the Ijaw National Congress (INC) 2001

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 13 2003. I was also the founding Secretary of the Great Commiee of Friends (The Green Movement). In 2006,I served as the Honourable Aorney General and Commissioner for Justice of this State. In all these oﬃces and responsibilities, I discharged my duty to the best of my ability and in most cases, surpassed the expectations of many.

In 2007, I was elected unopposed into the House of Representatives as member representing the Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency and became Chairman of the Justice Commiee between 2007 – 2011, and chaired several adhoc commiees. I sponsored and worked on several bills, some of which have become Acts of the National Assembly.

In 2011, in spite of all machinations by some of the powersthatbe in the state, I was elected by the good people of Sagbama/Ekeremor Federal Constituency, who reelected me as their representative and I now chair the Commiee on Special Duties. Between 2007 to date I have shown leadership and served the people of my constituency, Bayelsa State and the nation at large, diligently, with honour, loyalty and dedication to duty.

You all are aware that in 2007, when the present administration in the state was elected into power, we were all full of hopes that the dreams and aspirations of our people would be met and that the foundations of our development which previous administrations laid would be sustained and consolidated. This, the government has failed to do. We are in a democracy and I acknowledge the right of a few public oﬃce holders to hold the opinion that the present government should continue. But to such people and to you all, I pose the following questions:

1. Why is Bayelsa the most indebted state in the country?

2. What were all these loans and our huge statutory allocations used for?

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 14 3. Are we not all tired of LOANS, LOANS, LOANS and more LOANS by which our future has been mortgaged?

4. What happened to the three senatorial roads awarded, paid for, and started by previous administrations but abandoned by this government?

5. What happened to the hotel projects started by previous administrations and abandoned by this government?

6. What happened to BYCAS (Bayelsa State College of Arts and Science), the schools for gied and talented children as well as the NDU (Niger Delta University), the College of Education at the Governorʹs hometown, Okpoama?

7. What is happening to the Scholarship Board and the disbursement of bursaries to our children home and abroad? Why has the government allowed the infrastructure of our primary and secondary schools to deteriorate to this unacceptable level? Why has government refused the timely payment of the fees of our children for NECO and WAEC?

8. Why the failure in agriculture, health sector, water projects, gas turbine project and airport project, in spite of the huge sums expended on them?

9. Why the many lives killed and maimed by the Operation Famu Tangbei? Why replace the peace this government inherited with violence, guns and bombs?

My people, at this juncture let us observe a minute silence for all those who were murdered by this WICKED terror group. May their gentle souls rest in peace.

Sadly, our expectations have been completely shaered in spite of the improved statutory revenue, which has accrued to the state and the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 15 historic opportunities that exist now for synergy between the state and the Federal Government at this point in time. Majority of Bayelsans are highly disappointed with the present administration over its poor and dismal performance to date. I also share in this emotional pain.

As a result of this inability to meet the expectations and aspirations of our people and the sense of disappointment occasioned thereby, I and several other well meaning Bayelsans have come under intense pressure to answer the clarion call to duty.

At this point in our political history when we have the historic opportunity of providing the leadership for this great country, we need someone who has a unique understanding of the issues and priorities of the times, who can rally support for synergy in the interest and welfare of our people, not one who will connive with people to undermine our interests; not one who will frier away our resources in the guise of politics; not one with a penchant for starting supremacy tussles which are completely unnecessary; not one who uses our resources to empower others while we remain impoverished; not one who turns our peaceful state to a haven of criminals.

I know that several families have lost young and dear ones, several families have lost their means of sustainable livelihood and businesses, the educational dreams of our young people have been truncated, our commonwealth squandered, our collective psyche traumatized and our future mortgaged.

To restore our future we have set up a formidable campaign appropriately called ʹRestoration 2012ʹ with the theme: Our Bayelsa, Our Future. We have by this demonstrated our patriotism and earnest

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 16 desire for change. We urge you all to come on board and be a part of this historic change, so that when this period is recorded in the future, let it be said of you, by your children and generations unborn, that you saw the dri and the rot and the destruction of our fundamental interests, and you volunteered yourselves in the service of our people to protect their tomorrow at great risk and inconvenience.

Let history not record you as being on the side of the oppressors of our people who place their personal interests above the common good of our people and who do not care at all about the future of their children which is under threat by mindboggling loans but with nothing to show for them; lack of investment in education and a distortion of our values. So let the change begin now!!!

I urge you all to join the Restoration team and form commiees in all our towns, villages, communities and local government areas as vehicles for the realisation of the change we deserve. Soon I will be with you in all the towns and villages that make up Bayelsa State, to cheer you up and thank you most sincerely for your support, solidarity and prayers.

Tell them in your communities that their government has failed them; tell them it is their right to reject a government that has failed; tell them that this election is not about me, but about their future; tell them that they must seize this opportunity for change; tell them I am one of you who will live and work here and ﬁght for them; tell them to reject those who do not understand their problems; tell them to reject those, who have betrayed their trust; tell them I am a simple man of honour, dedicated to their service. But most of all, tell them the good news that change has come!

My fellow Bayelsans, by the grace of God and with your mandate, when I am elected Governor, Bayelsa State the Ijaw nation will not be the same again. I will unfold a paradigm shi in the governance

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 17 culture, through which the development of the state will be assured and made irreversible in favour of our people and their welfare.

My government will be transparent and accountable to the people; you will be informed about revenues accruing to the state and the expenditures. Values and high ethical standards of governance will be established to create and maintain enduring institutions to ensure that the development of the state will be irreversible. I will put a stop to corruption and ensure that wastages and leakages in government will be plugged.

The educational sector will be comprehensively reformed and overhauled from Primary to Tertiary levels including vocational and technical education. We will redesign and build model primary schools with modern facilities. Model boarding secondary schools shall also be built in every local government area of the State with state oftheart facilities. The abandoned schools for the gied and talented children will be completed and put to use. No longer will our children and youths take a back seat in the educational development of our country. To put a stop to the poor performance of our students in the past few years in WAEC, we will reintroduce the Bayelsa State College of Arts and Science to remedy this situation. A Teachersʹ Training Institute will be established for the training and retraining of our teachers.

The future prosperity of our people must be built on sound education, our youths must be given the opportunity to acquire the knowledge and skills they need to survive in an increasingly competitive, globalised environment. Under me, aention must be paid to the teaching of our indigenous language and culture, while we expose our children to languages and cultures of the emerging economies. Thus, we will revive the abandoned Ijaw Language Project to prevent our language from going extinct.

I will establish an Economic Advisory Council, which will lay the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 18 foundation to produce a blueprint to revamp the economy by focusing on Commerce, small and medium scale Enterprises, Agriculture, Energy and Tourism. We shall utilize the natural endowments of our environment, by investing in the Maritime, Oil and Gas industry, as well as on technological innovations to create more job opportunities. We will also do so by building and boosting a diversified revenue base of the State to lay a foundation for a future economy which will not depend on federal allocations. We must lay the foundation of a future economy of our state without oil, founded on tourism, agriculture, entrepreneurship, skilled manpower base, manufacturing and industry and effective private sector participation. For this to happen, the public sector itself must be run on high standards of professionalism and vision, and selfless dedication.

We will create an enabling environment for peace, security, development, and happiness through a zero tolerance for crime and criminality. Yenagoa and Bayelsa State as a whole must be made safe for tourism and businesses to thrive.

I will ensure the completion of all abandoned and ongoing critical infrastructure, especially the three senatorial roads and the abandoned hotel projects doing the streets of Yenagoa.

The Capital City Development Authority CCDA will be reorganised and the Yenagoa City Development Master plan, fully implemented.

An eﬃcient and accelerated land title processing system will be introduced in addition to the establishment of a mortgage institution for the provision of aﬀordable housing for our people (Anybody get C ofO for Yenagoa before?) We will expedite the process of obtaining C of Oʹs in Bayelsa State.

We must have a healthy and vibrant workforce; therefore we will build modern and functional hospitals in each local government area. People in every community deserve access to medical care. Therefore health

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 19 centres will be set up all across the state. All medical personnel will be trained and retrained to meet international standards. The State Commiee on Aids (SACA) will be transformed into a fullﬂedged agency to contain the scourge of HIV AIDS. We will build centres of excellence for HIV AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and other communicable diseases in the State. Children, pregnant women and all Bayelsans above 65 years will receive free medical treatment. We will invest in the provision of modern health facilities in order to make Bayelsa a centre of medical tourism.

Water! Water! Everywhere! And yet there is no potable drinking water in our state! My administration will ensure that water will ﬂow in every household in the Yenagoa metropolis. Integrated water schemes will be introduced in every local government area of the state.

The gas turbine at Imiringi will be reactivated to provide power to Yenagoa metropolis. In addition, we shall build sub gas turbines to service local government areas and clusters. We shall also invest in alternative sources of energy.

Our great women of Bayelsa...Great Ijaw Women.... A dooooh!!!!

I will ensure that women will have equal opportunity to participate fully in governance, policy and decisionmaking. Appropriate programmes such as SMEʹs, cooperatives, agricultural grants will be established to provide opportunities for sustainable livelihood for our women and mothers. In addition, we will protect the rights of the Girl Child.

Great Ijaw Youths!!!... Great Youths of Bayelsa!!! Government will pursue an integrated approach to youth development, empowerment and employment generation. We will establish a sports academy to harness the sporting potential of our youths; we will establish skills acquisition centres and promote technical education to take advantage of our natural endowment and opportunities. We will sustain bursary

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 20 payment, scholarships and grants locally and internationally. My administration will focus on human capital development to lay a solid foundation to prepare young Bayelsans for a competitive edge in the global economy.

The civil service and local government service will be reorganised and refocused to enhance workersʹ welfare, training and productivity.

Traditional rulers and community leaders will be supported and strengthened as necessary partners in government. I will strengthen their roles and responsibilities by proposing a law to the State Assembly

My dear people of Bayelsa, as I report for duty, I urge you all to remember the memories and sacrifices of our political leaders in the struggle for the Ijaw Nation and Bayelsa State. I go forward as a political son of the great Ijaw Legend, Chief Harold DappaBiriye , a student of Chief Melford Okilo, the fisherman and countryman. We must not also forget the contributions and the sacrifices of Major Adaka Boro, Capt. Sam Owonaro, Capt. Amangala and Ken SaroWiwa. I salute our great Ijaw leaders, Chief Edwin Clark, Prof. Demie, Chief Joshua Fumudoh, Prof. Kimse Okoko, High Chief F.J Williams, Sen. Sekibo Oduabaji, Prof Turner Isoun and other Ijaw leaders too numerous to mention. I also salute my compatriots in the Ijaw struggle, Felix Tuodolo, Asari Dokubo, Barr. Oronto Douglas, Timi Ogoriba, Tompolo, Ateke Tom and others.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 21 To our youths, I make a pledge that the sacrifices made for the survival and sustenance of the Ijaw Nation and Bayelsa State will not be forgoen. Your tears and blood shall not be in vain. All our sacrifices for the Ijaw Nation and dreams will be meaningless and unrealisable unless and until Bayelsa State is put right. This is the most critical challenge of our time, the challenge for which I am offering myself as a symbol. As a product of the struggle myself, the INC and the IYC, which are the two organs of mobilization of the Ijaw people, will be reinvigorated and refocused for positive national development. By Godʹs Grace and beginning from the very moment I am elected as Governor, it will be clear to everyone that the Ijaw Nation is puing its house together again. The days of dissonance and contradictory signals and messages; the days of desecration of our fundamental values and interests; the days of enrichment of others with our resources at our expense; the days of selfdestructive politics are over for good!

In place of these we will rally our people and take steps to defend our fundamental strategic interests; we will give the necessary leadership direction and support to all sons and daughters of Bayelsa State. This is our responsibility; this is our tradition; this is the natural leadership role expected of Bayelsa State, and Bayelsa must play its Godʹs given role as the Jerusalem of the Ijaw people.

I cannot bear the weight of this restoration alone. I need you all on board. I do not have all the answers to our numerous problems. As is my style, I promise you that my doors will be open to all, my ears shall listen to all and my hands will reach out in fellowship to all. From my background of service to you over the years, I am trained to listen to and

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 22 appreciate all perspectives on issues including views I do not necessarily support or agree with. I do not have any baggage of IOUs. My single minded loyalty will be to you and your interest.

I call on you today to rise up and support this cause, the vision for a beer Bayelsa; the vision for a greater tomorrow.

Let us remake Bayelsa! The time for change is now!

Long Live Bayelsa State!

Long Live the Ijaw Nation!

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 23 LOOKING FORWARD

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 24 BAYELSA STATE GOVERNOR, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON DELIVERING HIS INAUGURAL SPEECH THE NEW BAYELSA BECKONS

Inaugural speech of his Excellency, hon. Henry Seriake Dickson on the occasion of his swearing in as governor of Bayelsa state on Tuesday, 14th of February, 2012 at the peace park in Yenagoa

y Dear Good People of Bayelsa State and the Ijaw Nation, Today marks the climax of the journey we started several Mmonths ago when I announced my intention to run for the oﬃce of Governor of our dear state on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In the course of our campaigns we promised change and restoration of our lost glory. Today that change has come. Today our Restoration journey begins.

Let me thank you all for your prayers and support and the conﬁdence reposed in me by your overwhelming mandate. I also must thank you for the sacriﬁces made and the risks taken to ensure our victory at the polls.

I wish to particularly thank my boss and elder brother, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, GCFR, for his fatherly support and unﬂinching commitment to a beer, prosperous and secure Bayelsa State and Nigeria. I also want to place on record our deep appreciation to the First Lady, Her

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 26 Excellency, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan, for her motherly support all the way. Similarly, we salute the Vice President, Architect Namadi Sambo, who as Chairman of the National Campaign Commiee provided uncommon leadership, which contributed immensely to our victory at the polls.

Let me also thank the President of the Senate, Senator David Mark and my worthy brother and friend, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal and the entire members of the National Assembly for their solidarity and their abiding support.

Our immense gratitude also goes to all the leaders of my party particularly, the Acting National Chairman, members of the National Working Commiee and all the members of the National Campaign Commiee for Bayelsa Governorship campaign. Of course, this victory couldnʹt have been possible without the phenomenal work of the various party organs and structure in Bayelsa state. Let me specially thank the Right Honourable Speaker and Members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Chairman of our party, Deacon James Dugo and members of his Executive Commiee. I salute the eﬀorts of the Elders commiee ably led by our former Governor, Chief D.S.P Alamieyeseigha and our Campaign caucus under the capable leadership of my dear brother, Chief Ndutimi Alaibe.

Permit me to also extend my sincere appreciation to all our teeming supporters, KEME2KEME volunteers, party faithfuls and most especially, members of “The Restoration 2012 Campaign Team” led by the Director General, Chief Fred Agbedi for their dogged determination in driving this campaign to its ﬁnal destination; resulting in our partyʹs resounding victory at the polls. We are truly grateful and eternally indebted to you for your invaluable contributions to the success of our campaign.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 27 We thank you the good people of Bayelsa State for your peaceful conduct before, during and aer the polls. By your conduct at the polls, we have proved our detractors wrong. We have shown to the whole world that we will not succumb to violence and that we are not a violent people.

I am humbled by the overwhelming support and mandate freely given to us by Bayelsans. Accredited observers, both local and international have adjudged the election to be free, fair and credible and probably the best in the history of our dear state. Let me thank INEC and the security agencies for conducting a free, fair and violentfree election.

As a product of the Ijaw movement, I am aware that I was not just a candidate of Bayelsa State but of the entire Ijaw nation. Let me therefore thank all the Ijaw people at home and in the diaspora for their prayers and unﬂinching support. To all Ijaws wherever they may reside, let me reaﬃrm that Bayelsa will be continue to be your Jerusalem and I will be your Governor too.

We thank all friends and wellwishers of Bayelsa State for their keen interest and partnership. We specially thank all those who contributed materially and otherwise to the success of our campaigns and subsequent victory at the polls.

We sincerely thank all the clergy men for their prayers and unyielding support. I personally want to thank them for their steadfastness in prayers for me and my family all through the course of this campaign.

We must at this point thank the chiefs and elders in all the communities we visited to solicit for votes. The campaigns oﬀered us further insight into your problems and potentials. We assure you that you will hear from us soon in very speciﬁc terms.

To all my brothers who took part in this electoral contest with me on the platform of other political parties, yesterday we were opponents but

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 28 today oﬀers an opportunity for partnership in the service of our people for a greater tomorrow.

To you my good people of Bayelsa State, who have voted for change and restoration, let me say a few words about the cardinal focus of the Restoration Agenda.

We shall undertake fundamental reform of the governance culture to emphasize transparency, accountability, due process and value re orientation by all institutions and functionaries of government, beginning with my humble self. For emphasis, there shall be zero tolerance for corruption under my administration.

The days of enrichment without labour and funding the greed and avarice of a few at the expense of the development of our people is over. I will rather use our common wealth to fund the construction of good roads, education, promote tourism, generate wealth and develop agriculture than fund corruption and greed.

Be prepared therefore for a fundamental paradigm shi in the governance culture, values and lifestyle of public oﬃcials. I am aware that we will face resistance, we may be misunderstood but we shall always do what is right in the interest of you the people.

To do nothing now about the corrupt, decadent and selfserving status quo, poses a clear and present danger to the very existence of our state and will be the greatest disservice to our aspirations as Ijaw people. If Bayelsa fails, the Ijaw nation also fails and so will the Niger Delta with grave consequences for national stability. This, we cannot allow to happen. We will therefore take the necessary decisions and actions, however diﬃcult, however painful, however controversial those decisions and actions may be. Even when you have a diﬀerent

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 29 perspective, which is your right to hold, be rest assured that our actions will always be in your interest and you will be consulted regularly. As part of our commitment to transparency, we shall announce and publish all revenues accruing to the state beginning from now.

In the course of our campaign, we promised massive investment in education, critical infrastructure, agriculture, health, as well as peace and security. The development of human capital is our most compelling and urgent need. That is why we promised you free and compulsory education for all our children in primary and secondary schools with emphasis on computer literacy, science and technology. I hereby announce with eﬀect from today the takeoﬀ of free and compulsory education at primary and secondary school levels across Bayelsa State. The rebuilding of our educational infrastructure commences forthwith. Our curriculum will emphasize the study of Ijaw language, history and culture.

We will invest in the development of other aspects of human capacity for our teeming youths, such that they will be able to unleash their creative capacities as well as enhance their drive for entrepreneurship.

We shall construct roads and other infrastructure to link our people and fast track comprehensive development. The completion of the three senatorial highways will be given high priority. But all these will not be possible without an atmosphere of peace and security. We must therefore strengthen our consensus as a community to have zero tolerance for criminality and insecurity. As a government, we will make all the necessary investment to create and sustain a secure society governed by the rule of law.

Our concept of security includes a commitment to protect our communities from all forms of environmental terrorism. We are willing to partner with all corporate entities operating in our state but we will insist on the highest standards of responsible corporate citizenship.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 30 Similarly, we will not condone the irresponsible acts of our own people who through criminal acts damage the ecology and environment.

We shall review and emplace an institutional framework for promoting investments with the active collaboration of the private sector. So to the rest of the country and the world, we declare that the new Bayelsa State is ready to welcome genuine investors and investments in an atmosphere so convivial, that beyond rhetoric, Bayelsa will be your home away from home. We are determined to make Bayelsa a foremost tourism and investment haven.

Fellow Bayelsans, it is true that no great enterprise or society has ever been built without a grand vision. But vision alone, like an architectural drawing, no maer how beautiful has never built anything without the labour of many skilled, semiskilled and even unskilled hands. We have cast a beautiful vision of restoration for our beloved Bayelsa, the Glory of all lands. Now we must labour to make it happen and it is to this labour we now summon every man, woman and child – Hear the clarion call – To thy work oh Bayelsans– Let the Glory of all lands be restored again!

Judge me by this – I will not play politics with your development. I will not play politics with crime, criminality and violence. I will not play politics with the protection of the Ijaw National interest within the context of a united, democratic and peaceful Nigeria.

A new dawn has broken;

The New Bayelsa beckons;

With your support and prayers and by the grace of God, Bayelsa State and the Ijaw nation will NEVER be the same again.

GOD bless Bayelsa State!

GOD bless the Ijaw Nation!!

GOD bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 31 LET US GIRD OUR LOINS TO TRANSVERSE THE LONG AND DIFFICULT ROAD AHEAD

Remarks on the occasion of a dinner held in his honour and for his deputy

y dear good people of Bayelsa state, my dear good and wonderful people of the Ijaw nation, I told you sometime Mago that a contriman had reported for duty. Today, I announce to you all by virtue of the mandate you so freely gave that a contriman here and now assumes service.

Today marks the climax of a journey we started several months ago when I announced my intention to run for the oﬃce of governor in our dear state under the campaign platform of the Peoples Democratic Party. In the course of our campaign, we promised change and restoration of our lost glory.

Today, change has come. Today your restoration journey begins.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 32 Let me thank you all for your prayers and support and for the confidence that you have reposed in me by your mandate. I also must thank you because I know the sacrifices you all made and the risk that you all took at a time that a lot of people would not have come near the restoration project. Let me thank you all. Let me dedicate this victory therefore to you all, the good and wonderful people of Bayelsa state. I wish to thank you particularly, my brother, my leader, our elder brother and president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR. For his fatherly support and unflinching commitment to a beer prosperous and secured Bayelsa State and Federal Republic of Nigeria. We know he is here with us in spirit. I also want to place on record our deep appreciation to the First Lady, wife of Mr. President, Her Excellency, Dame Patience Goodluck Jonathan for her motherly support and advice all the way. Similarly, I will like to salute the Vice President, Architect Namadi Sambo GCON, who as the chairman of the national campaign commiee of our party, provided uncommon leadership which contributed immensely to our victory at the polls. Permit me also to thank the president of the senate, Senator David Mark, and our worthy brother and friend, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Honourable Waziri Aminu Tambuwal

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 33 CFR and the entire members of the National Assembly for their solidarity and abiding faith and above all our great party, especially, the acting national chairman, members of the working commiee and all the members of the campaign commiee for this governorship election. Particularly, let me mention those who were contestants in the governorship primaries, who aempted to serve and who accepted to serve as members of the governorship campaign commiee: my chief and my leader, Chief Francis Doukpoula, My brother and colleague, the Hon. Youpele Kalangu, I thank you.

This victory would not have been possible without the various parties, organs and leaders and you wonderful people of Bayelsa state. Let me specially thank my brother the Rt. Hon. Speaker and members of the Bayelsa state house of Assembly. I salute the eﬀorts of the elders commiee and the eﬀorts of the various campaign coordinators and caucuses across the local government areas of Bayelsa state. Permit me to also express my sincere appreciation to all our teeming supporters across the state, to the volunteers of Keme 2 Keme, the Door 2 Door, members of the restoration campaign team led by the D.G. and greatly assisted by the deputy. Iʹm indeed grateful and we shall remain indebted to you all the good and wonderful people of Bayelsa State for your support. Let me also thank you all my people of Bayelsa for the peaceful manner in which you conducted yourselves during and aer the election. By your conduct at the polls and aer, you have proved our detractors wrong. You have shown to the whole world we are not a violent people.

Let me also thank the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the dedicated, capable commied patriotic Nigerians serving in the armed forces and other security agencies for working very hard and tirelessly to provide peaceful and safe environment during the elections and up to now. As a product of the Ijaw movement, Iʹm also aware that I was not just a candidate of Bayelsa state. I was in reality a

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 34 candidate for the entire Ijaw nation.

Let me therefore thank all the good and wonderful people of Ijaw ethnic nationality at home and in the Diaspora for their prayers and their unflinching support. To you all ĳaws wherever you may reside, let me reaffirm in accordance with the standing principles of this state that Bayelsa will continue to be your Jerusalem, your home, and I will continue to be your Governor too wherever you may reside in this country. We thank all the friends and wellwishers of Bayelsa State for their keen interest and their partnership. We also thank all of you who have contributed materially and otherwise to achieve success. Let me thank men of the clergy; let me thank all of you who prayed tirelessly for this victory and for restoration. Let me thank also the chiefs and elders of all the communities we visited for their warmth and for the hospitality they extended to us. This campaign offers further insights into your problems, our problems, as well as insight into your potentials.

I assure you that you will very soon hear from us in very speciﬁc terms. All my brothers who took part in this contest in other political parties, let me say this again: yesterday we were opponents but today oﬀers an opportunity for partnership in the service of our people for a greater tomorrow. Our doors are open; you are all welcome onboard the restoration train. To you my good people of Bayelsa who have voted for change and restoration and to all those who campaigned across the length and breadth of this state selling the message of restoration, let me use a few moments to summarize the essence, the cardinal principles of the restoration agenda.

To do nothing now about the corrupt and decadent status quo poses a clear and present danger to the very existence of our state, and will be the greatest disservice to the aspirations of the Ijaw nation. And if Bayelsa fails, the Ijaw nation has also failed and so will the Niger Delta with great consequences for national stability.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 35 We shall undertake fundamental reforms of the governance culture to emphasize transparency, accountability, due process, value orientation by all institutions of state and functionaries of the government, beginning with my humble self. For emphasis, there shall be zero tolerance for corruption under my administration. The days of enrichment of a few without labour and funding of the greed and avarice of a few at the expense of the development of our people, those days are over for good! Say amen!

I will work hard to block all leakages and sources of our common wealth in order to fund the construction of roads, to funds free education, to promote tourism, to generate wealth, to create employment for our teeming youths, and develop the agricultural sector, to expand our economy rather than fund corruption and greed.

Be prepared my dear people of Bayelsa State for a fundamental paradigm shi in the governance culture, in the values and lifestyle of all of us, particularly public oﬃcials in the state beginning with me. I am aware that we will face resistance. I will be misunderstood but we will always do what is right and in your best interest.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 36 This we cannot afford to happen, certainly not under my watch. We will therefore take the necessary decisions and actions however difficult, however painful, however controversial those decisions and actions may be. Even when you have a different perspective, which is your right to hold, be rest assured that our actions and decisions will always be in your best interest, and I will endeavor to consult stakeholders regularly.

As part of our commitment to transparency, we shall from today announce and publish all revenues accruing to the state government. The people of this state, the people of the Ijaw nation and the elected members who represent you are entitled to know the revenue proﬁle of this state on a regular basis. In the course of our campaigns we promised massive investment in education and investment in the development of critical infrastructure, agriculture, health as well as peace and security. The development of human capital is our most compelling and urgent need. That is why we promised free and compulsory education for all our children in primary and secondary schools with emphasis on computer literacy, science and technology because that is the way to the future.

I hereby announce with eﬀect from today free and compulsory education at primary and secondary schools level across this state. To underscore the importance of human capital development and the priority aention it would now receive, let me today at this solemn occasion declare a state of emergency in the education sector in this state. Now it will be education, education, education. We will not rest until you have the right skills to survive, compete and to contribute to your economy. The building of our educational infrastructure will start forthwith; our curriculum will also emphasize the Ijaw Language, History and Culture, so that our culture and language will not die while we do nothing.

We will invest in human capacity development for our teeming youths.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 37 I wonʹt bore you with all the speciﬁc details of this programme.

We will construct roads and infrastructure to link our people and fast track comprehensive development and also improve the base of our economy. The conclusion therefore of the three senatorial roads will be given topmost priority.

I am aware of the state of the finances aer a preliminary briefing but I know that we will work very hard to conquer our difficult terrain and to hit the Atlantic from three fronts; Agge the west, Oporoama/Koloama from the center and Brass from the east. Some of these we will do in partnership with the federal and other agencies, and that is why we will need to build synergy with the Federal Government and its agencies.

We must also strengthen our consensus as a community and have zero tolerance for crime, criminality and violence. I am a man of the law in its enforcement, in making of the law and its interpretation, and as you know all the bales I have joined I have always followed due legal process. So, our concept of security will involve a commitment to protection of our communities from all forms of environmental terrorism such as what led to the Chevron blow out in some parts of this state.

We are willing to partner with all entities and corporate bodies in the state but we will insist on higher standards of responsible behaviour and citizenship. Similarly, we will not condone the irresponsible acts of our own people who through criminal acts damage our own environment and ecology.

We will have in place an institutional framework for promoting investment and promoting collaboration with the private sector because government alone cannot do all that you need. To the rest of the country and the world we declare: a new Bayelsa is ready to welcome genuine investors in an atmosphere that is conducive. It is our duty to create that enabling environment. To all investors, I say to you Bayelsa

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 38 will be a home away from your home, and we are determined to make Bayelsa a foremost tourism and investment haven.

Bayelsans, it is true no great enterprise or society has ever been built without a vision. But vision alone, like an architectural drawing no maer how beautiful, has never built anything without the skills and the labour and commitment of many workers, many hands. We have cast a beautiful vision of transformation and restoration of our state to become the glory of all lands. Now we must labour, all of us, to make that happen and it is for this labour we summon every man, woman or child to hear the clarion call of duty and service. Let the Glory of All Lands be restored again.

Judge me by this, and this is no political campaign, I will not play politics with your development. I will not play politics with crime, criminality and violence. I will not tolerate criminality and cultism in Bayelsa. We have had enough unnecessary bloodshed; we have had enough unnecessary violence bringing us a bad reputation in this country and beyond; we will partner together to achieve peace. I will bring to you, therefore, peace. I bring to you restoration. I bring to you reconciliation. I will not play politics with the protection of Ijaw national interest within the context of a united, democratic and peaceful Nigeria. So, all of you, I say to you, a new dawn has broken, a new vista of possibilities has now opened before you. The new Bayelsa beckons, and with your support, with your prayers and by the grace of the Almighty God, Bayelsa and the Ijaw Nation will never be the same again in Jesus name! I repeat that with your support, with your prayers and by the grace of the Almighty God, Bayelsa and the Ijaw Nation will never be the same again in Jesus name!

This is my solemn promise and this I shall keep, as I your contriman reports for duty today. God bless Bayelsa State, God bless the Ijaw nation, and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria. May God protect you all, may God shower you His blessings. Thank you all.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 39 PUTTING GOD FIRST

Remarks on the occasion of the breaking of a 3day fast & prayer meeting for the restoration of Bayelsa State

oday is the beginning of a 3day state fast which aer consultations with the Christian leadership we decided to Tproclaim. According to the exultation, according to what the preacher said we believe that we must get the foundation right. We have gathered here in prayers as part of the process of building that foundation, a solid foundation founded on God, founded on what is right, founded on what is fair and what is good for our people.

I want to thank you all for all your prayers and especially the clergy. Let me thank you all for all your prayers for peace in the country and let me enjoin you to continue to pray for our brother, our President, one of us who is facing very serious challenges at the national level. Continue to pray for the leadership that you have met in this state and it is not a coincidence that all arms of government except the Judiciary have new leadership.

I want to thank you all for all your prayers and all your support, prayers

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 40 RLEF; GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON, EXCUTIVE SECT. NIGERIA PILGRIM BOARD, MIC OKPARA, CAN PRESIDENT, ORITSEJAFOR AYO AND APOSTLE ZILLY AGGREY AT THE 3DAYS FAST AND PRAYER MEETING IN YENAGOA

that you will continue to oﬀer in the privacy of your own homes and in all the churches. I was told that there have been for quite some time all over the state and with today marking the commencement of this 3day fast. We have declared this 3day fast because we want to gather together in supplication and invite the presence of God, for God to take charge in this new government, for God to come to Bayelsa and usher in the blessings of prosperity over this land. We have all gathered here because we think that the right thing to do is to put God ﬁrst and that is what we have gathered here to do. So I thank you all, members of the clergy for enabling us to do just that. For me, I have been reminded once again of numerous responsibilities on my shoulder and let me assure you once again my brothers and sisters, and my leaders, by the grace of God I will not let God down and I will not let you down.

In less than two weeks that I have been on the saddle by your mandate and with your support by the permission of God, you are already seeing signs of doing things diﬀerently. The government that you have voted in, of which I am privileged to head, is a government that will cut

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 41 waste and corruption, just as the preacher said, a government that will continue to address the real problems and priorities of our people and that is why you continue to hear me talk about education, education, education. That is why you will begin to see in the next couple of days or weeks or months and more, massive investment in that sector, massive investment in health care delivery; massive investment in peace, law and order and security in this land, massive investment in infrastructure and so on.

This is not a campaign opportunity but Iʹm just here to remind you that just as you are all praying for Bayelsa, I your governor and the team that we are puing in place is going to work tirelessly not to let you down. But please pray for us because we need your prayers. Continue to support us when we do what is right, continue to advise us and counsel us when we think we can do things beer and diﬀerently. For me and that is one thing quite a number of people do not know yet and that is one shocker waiting for them. I am not in politics, I am not in power for any personal beneﬁt that will accrue to me and I intend with your support and prayers to end this journey of service glorifying God for the opportunity He has given to me to serve you all to the best of my ability. And at the end of the day to still remain a humble servant of God, humble servant of His people. This is my aspiration.

My desire is not to be the richest man among you because I donʹt need those billions, and that is why you heard yesterday that in this ﬁrst month we have reduced the running cost of Government House alone by a billion naira. And ask me now what we are going to do with it; we will ply it back to your service. I believe that one of the greatest things God can do for you is to give you the opportunity to lead your people. And that opportunity must be protected jealously, knowing that like all things, every position, every privilege has a responsibility.

My responsibility is to do those things that will promote greater happiness and well being of your people. Nothing will add to my

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 42 personal aggrandizement. Yes, some decisions will be taken that you may not even agree with. At all times, be assured that I will act in what I consider to be in your best interest. Today is not a day of thanksgiving. We intend to have one very soon. In consultation with the clergy, we intend to proclaim a day of thanksgiving, where all of us in this state will gather to honour God and thank Him for His mercy and His blessings.

Maybe you donʹt know you are a blessed people. If you did not know, then know it now. It is not an accident as few as we are we have produced the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

I know that in this business of power, God is the ultimate politician. So far those who are running to the east and running to the west for power, they are running to the wrong places. And our President wouldnʹt be where he is but for God. For all these and more blessings we intend in consultation with the church to proclaim a day of fast, a state day of thanksgiving where we all gather together and thank God, as part of puing God ﬁrst.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 43 BUDGETS OF RESTORATION

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 44 2013 BUDGET: THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF OUR RESTORATION

Presentation of the 2013 Appropriation Bill to the Bayelsa State House of Assembly on December 21 2012

The Rt. Hon. Speaker,

The Honourable members,

Bayelsa State House of Assembly

It is a great honour and privilege for me to step into these hallowed chambers once again to present the 2013 budget estimates to you the representatives of the good and peaceloving people of Bayelsa State.z

Mr. Speaker, at the presentation of the revised 2012 Appropriation Bill to this Assembly, I detailed the fundamental principles and general philosophy as well as the strategies for the smooth take off of our Restoration Agenda. As it was our first budget, it was specifically designed to ensure that a solid foundation was laid for all the programmes and aspirations of the Restoration Agenda. Mr. Speaker, aer about nine months of serious restructuring, redesigning and re organizing of the entire governance structure in the state, I am glad to report that the stage is now set for a full and aggressive implementation

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 45 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON (L) PRESENTING THE 2013 BUDGET TO THE SPEAKER OF BSHA, RT.HON KONBOWEI BENSON

of all the programmes and projects of the Restoration Agenda in all the sectors of the state. It is for this reason that I feel conﬁdent to come before you today with a ʹBudget of Consolidationʹ, a budget carefully craed to ensure thorough and speedy implementation of our various policies and programmes

PERFORMANCE OF 2012 BUDGET.

The year 2012 was a year of strategic planning and programming for this Administration.

All the institutional and administrative structures needed for eﬀective service delivery with particular focus on good governance, have been successfully erected. Therefore, the good people of Bayelsa State can rightfully expect an aggressive, determined, and more importantly, a properly coordinated execution of our Restoration programme in 2013.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 46 You will recall that our initial appropriation for the 2012 fiscal year was N238.157bn. Due to the devastating effects of the 2012 floods, Government later raised a supplementary budget of N16.867bn which brought the total budget for the 2012 fiscal year to N255.024bn. Of this amount N98.719bn or 38.71% was earmarked for recurrent expenditure while the sum of N156.305bn or 61.29% was devoted to Capital Expenditure.

In terms of revenue which accrued to the state during the outgoing year, actual receipts stood at N206.509 bn or 80.98% of budgeted sum as at the end of November 2012. The breakdown is as follows:

Nʹ bn 1. Statutory Allocation: 25.283 2. 13% Derivation: 94.397 3. Excess Crude/Budget augmentation: 31.193 4. VAT 6.098 5. Others; 22.811 6. IGR 4.752 7. Capital Receipts 21.975 Total N 206.509

The breakdown of our expenditures of N186.868 bn as at the end of November, 2012 is as follows:

Nʹ bn 1. Personnel Cost 31.599 2. Overhead 41.605 3. CRFC 68.908 4. Capital Expenditure 44.756

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 47 Total N186.868 From the above ﬁgures, it can be seen that the State has saved the sum of N19.641bn in the 2012 ﬁscal year as at the end of November 2012. The 2013 Budget:

The 2013 Budget proposals were carefully put together using the 2013 2015 MTEF as its basic platform. Consequently, the 2013 budget comes with a total proposal of N285.930bn comprising N133.235 or 46.60% for recurrent expenditure and N152.695bn or 53.40% for capital expenditure. The sum total of the 2013 budget is expected to be ﬁnanced from a total revenue projection of N247.902bn and Capital Receipts of N38.028 bn. The Revenue proﬁle therefore consists of the following: Nʹ bn 1. Statutory Allocation 27.268 2. Excess Crude/Budget augmentation: 45.500 3. VAT 9.955 4. 13% Derivation 160.706 5. Internally Generated Revenue 4.473 6. Capital Receipts 38.028 Total N285.930

On the other hand, the 2013 expenditure proﬁle is as follows: Nʹ bn 1. Personnel Cost: 49.142 2. Overhead Cost 28.905 3. CRFC 55.188 4. Capital Expenditure 152.695 Total N285.930

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 48 The 2013 Budget provides for massive physical infrastructure and accords high priority to measures and programmes aimed at positioning our people strategically to harness the full potentials of our Restoration Agenda. Permit me now to outline the strategic policies and programmes of the 2013 Budget.

Works and Infrastructure:

Mr. Speaker, as I have said and demonstrated severally in the course of the past nine months, the key to unlocking the huge development potentials of the state remains in the massive provision of infrastructure.

Accordingly, very high priority is accorded to this critical subsector of our economy. While the state government will be involved directly in the provision of some of these infrastructures, others will be provided through a robust Concession Policy to work with the private sector which will aract Foreign Direct Investment. Plans have reached an advanced stage in finetuning the legal and institutional framework of this Concession Policy. Some of the top priority projects that will be immediate beneficiaries of the proposed concession policy include: EkeremorAgge road, Oporomor –Ukubie road, Tower Hotel etc. Other projects in the works and infrastructure subsector to be given priority aention include: completion of the six high profile roads in Yenagoa metropolis, completion of the dualisation works on Isaac Boro and Road Safety roads, as well as the commencement of construction work on the three Senatorial roads.

Also the three additional secretariat annexes, whose construction work was started this year, will be completed in the 2nd quarter of next year. Additionally construction work on the state Ecumenical Centre and the Bayelsa State Airport will start in earnest next year. Accordingly, the sum of N38.8bn has therefore been earmarked for the works and infrastructure subsector.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 49 Education:

This is one area in which the state government has made major strides in the last nine months. We have taken several landmark actions pursuant to the declaration of a state of emergency in this subsector. The implementation of our free and compulsory primary and secondary education is very much on course, whilst we have also commenced massive infrastructural developments in the education subsector. All the model schools whose construction work was started this year will be completed next year. This will no doubt create the much needed conducive environment for learning in our primary and secondary schools in the State. The Teachers Retraining Institute established earlier this year will also commence full academic programmes next year. At this juncture, let me report with a great sense of fulﬁllment that the College of Education Sagbama has become a beehive of activities with student enrollment growing at geometric proportions. Furthermore the very robust scholarship schemes that were introduced this year will be strengthened next year. This is intended to complement our eﬀorts in establishing conducive learning infrastructure in our schools, as we operate our schools to worldclass standards.

The state government intends therefore to continue with the present regime of quality investments in the education subsector, as more schools are slated for renovation and remodeling. Accordingly, the sum of N28.4bn has been proposed for the Education subsector next year.

Health:

Mr. Speaker, as you are quite aware, the health subsector forms an important component of our Restoration Agenda. This informed the development of the policy of providing every local government headquarters with a functional general hospital. The execution of that

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 50 laudable policy has reached an advanced stage. Also, the 500 bed Melford Okilo memorial hospital will beneﬁt from our concessioning policy so that we can immediately put the hospital to use. We will continue to sustain the present regime of quality investments in the College of Health Technology and the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital as well as the School of Nursing to ensure the accreditation of more of their programmes. I am quite sure that by the time our investments in the Health subsector matures, Health care delivery would have been greatly enhanced in the State. We have reinvigorated the ﬁght against HIV and Aids scourge in the state with the establishment of the HIV and Aids Agency in the State. Accordingly, the sum of N7.7bn is hereby proposed for the Health subsector.

Energy:

Aer a series of consultations in the energy subsector, we have come to the conclusion that the challenges in this very important subsector have become more daunting due to the nonavailability of a properly articulated energy road map in the state. Therefore, the task we have given ourselves for the 2013 ﬁscal year is the production of a power master plan for the entire state. I am quite sure that this will provide a good guide for our investment decisions in the energy subsector. Accordingly, the sum of N6.2bn is earmarked for the energy subsector.

Agriculture:

It is true that agriculture provides a reliable basis for employment generation both in the short and long terms. Yet, the agriculture subsector with its enormous potentials has for many years suﬀered serious neglect. We intend to reverse this unacceptable situation in 2013. To this end, a School of Agriculture will be established next year to ensure that our teeming farmers are exposed to new technologies designed to enable them improve on their productivity. Government will as a deliberate policy of boosting food production, establish large

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 51 farms at Ebedebiri, Anglabiri, Abobiri and Isampou. Also, Government will embark on the expansion of extension services and ensure beer and easier delivery of credit and other valuable inputs to farmers next year. The sum of N2.7bn is therefore being proposed for agriculture in year 2013.

Trade Investment and Industry:

The need to properly harness our potentials and advertise same to prospective investors, necessitated the creation of this ministry. We intend to carry out an aggressive ʹForeignʹ Direct Investment drive next year as, part of our multisectoral approach to the creation of employment opportunities for our teeming youths. Also, we have established the Bayelsa Development Investment Corporation (BDIC) as a special purpose vehicle to drive the process. Furthermore, the issue of building entrepreneurial capacity will be given a major boost next year. The sum of N2bn is hereby proposed for this subsector.

Water Resources:

The provision of potable and clean drinking water will continue to be accorded priority aention by this administration in 2013. Modern water treatment plants will be established in various locations in the state, while work on the various ongoing water projects will be completed in 2013. The sum of N3.4bn is being proposed for Water Resources.

Science Technology and Manpower Development:

Science and Technology being the corner stone of industrialization will be given special recognition. This has been amply demonstrated with the creation of a special ministry for it. The formulation of a state policy on Information and Computer Technology shall be completed and this will be followed immediately with the construction of a science and technology centre of Excellence and Innovation as well as

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 52 renovation/furnishing of eight ICT centres in the LGAs. The sum of N3.5bn has been proposed for Science, Technology and Manpower Development.

Sports Development:

Mr. Speaker, the potentials of the state in sports are huge and this administration is determined to harness them properly to ensure greater unity and create the much needed employment opportunities for our teeming youths in the state. Construction work on the Bayelsa State Stadium complex will start in earnest. Also, all outstanding works at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex will be completed next year. We will ensure that our Sports Academy at Asoama commences fullscale activities next year. The funding of our football and other sporting outﬁts will also be sustained next year as they have done so much to boost our collective image as a people. The sum of N4.5bn is allocated to the Sports Development subsector.

Housing and Urban Development:

It is true that the housing deficit in the state is huge. Government will take pragmatic steps to address this problem next year. In this regard, the construction of low cost houses for our teeming masses will be accorded high priority. Also low cost housing schemes in the 8 LGA headquarters will get under way in 2013. Additionally, the Housing and Property Development Authority will be encouraged to fulfill its mandate of providing affordable housing to the people of Bayelsa State. The sum of N3.2bn is being proposed for the housing subsector.

Budget Discipline:

Mr. Speaker, Hon. Members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, let me say unequivocally that the management of public expenditure in the state will strictly adhere to measures of efficacy, efficiency and effectiveness. This administration is determined to foster transparency

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 53 and openness in the governance of the state. We will take all necessary measures to forestall waste, inefficiency, and corruption in the transaction of government business in the state. We will ensure that all payments to be made in year 2013 are based on value for money. All the measures developed to achieve cost reduction particularly in the areas of personnel cost and overhead will be sustained next year. Budget discipline will be our watchword in the 2013 financial year, as we will ensure greater prudence and fiscal disciple in the handling of government transactions. We will also make deliberate efforts in the reduction of overhead and recurrent expenditure to channel our resources for infrastructural development and to other key sectors of the economic.

The Wage Bill:

This government has continued with policies to address the huge wage bill of the state that was inherited without allowing these policies to have negative impact on the legitimate workers of the State. The biometric staff verification exercises are ongoing and have achieved some positive results. We will work with our Permanent Secretaries and Heads of Departments to clean up our nominal rolls. We have also introduced daily aendance record to ensure that those who do not work with us are not paid salaries. We are working with consultants to ensure that the processes of staff engagement, salary preparation, salary payments, monitoring of staff daily aendance at their work places are computerized. The staff biometric database will be updated for migration to the Human Resource Platform to make all salary payments ebased. Right sizing the public service will be pursued with vigor and the efforts in preventing payroll fraud will be sustained. We will fish out all those wrongly employed into the public service and cause their disengagement.

We will not stop these processes until we have made signiﬁcant progress in ensuring that all ghost workers or persons who are experts

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 54 in inﬂating salary ﬁgures are cleared from our state wage bill. Such people will be prosecuted using the provisions of the Salary Fraud Bill which this Assembly passed into law. We are also doing everything possible to ensure that legitimate pensioners are paid their gratuities on time.

Internally Generated Revenue:

Bayelsa State has one of the lowest IGRs in the country. To address this, the government has put in place a number of policies.

An Internal Revenue Audit Commiee was set up which identiﬁed a number of untapped sources of revenue and the loopholes in the current scheme. The government has just set up a new Board made up of men of integrity and experience to handle our IGR process. We are also seing up a TAX/IGR Assessment and Review Commiee (TARC) to coordinate all our IGR generating MDAs and activities. I have directed my Aorney General and other related oﬃcers to review and come up with laws to streamline our IGR process and capture those potential sources we have not taken advantage of. For the civil servants and political appointees, we have set up machinery to ensure that we all pay our correct taxes in accordance with the relevant tax laws. In the same vein we will ensure that all multinational companies and all taxable persons doing legitimate business in the state pay their correct taxes as at when due to further boost the Internally Generated Revenue base of the state.

Bayelsans should be rest assured that we will be very transparent in the utilization of their tax monies. To this end, I have directed that speciﬁc bank accounts be opened for IGR generation and we will regularly report to Bayelsans on how these funds are utilized.

Conclusion:

Our Government stands fully commied to ensuring that the fruits of

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 55 the Restoration Agenda are shared by all sectors of our society, especially those living in the rural areas. Therefore, we must remain united, resolutely focused and unshakably commied to restoring the lost glory of our dear Bayelsa State. As a united force against poverty indolence and corruption, we will start our journey slowly but we will certainly arrive at the Bayelsa State of our dreams and aspirations.

Mr. Speaker, I have the honour now to present to you for consideration and subsequently expeditious passage the Dra Estimate for 2013 comprising.

Nʹ bn

1. Total Revenue 285.930

2. Total Recurrent Expenditure 133.235

3. Total Capital Expenditure 152.695

God Bless Bayelsa State!

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 56 BAYELSAʹS EXECUTIVE LEGISLATURE RELATIONS: A WORTHY EXAMPLE

Address at the presentation of the 2013 appropriation bill for the Governorʹs assent in Government House, Yenagoa on March 21, 2013

Let me ﬁrst of all express the profound sense of gratitude that we in the executive arm feel. I commend the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker, the Leadership and indeed the entire members of the House of Assembly who as usual, have worked tirelessly and selﬂessly, day and night to consider this appropriation bill that I submied to them in December.

I want to thank you Mr. Speaker and your colleagues for this unusual dedication and selﬂess service to our people. I am not surprised because we are leading the most proactive, the most productive House of Assembly in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

If as a government we have been able to make any progress, as people say we have, the credit also goes to the state House of Assembly for its selﬂess application and commitment to the interest of our people.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 57 Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you. I have taken note of your desire to have future Appropriation Bills submied earlier. This year, my economic team and I will work and begin the budget preparation process early so that before the end of September or at the very least, by early October, you should be able to get the appropriation estimates to enable you have suﬃcient time to do the legislative work that must be done so that we can go into next year with a fresh budget.

This is March, we are having the budget at this time and I think that we will at the executive Arm and all those who have responsibilities for implementation of the budget work hard to ensure that the performance targets that we have set for ourselves will still be met.

I want to thank you for your commitment and let me say that on our part, we intend to follow this budget scrupulously. We intend to implement it to the leer.

A budget is only a statement of intent. It is a broad policy, ﬁnancial document and if there are shortfalls or there are areas we need to work with the Assembly, we would not hesitate to bring that to your notice.

And I want to request you and members of your House to also support government as you have always done by exercising the full ambit of your oversight powers over all ministries, departments, agencies and oﬃces which are charged with the implementation of this budget so that we can all work together to ensure that set goals and targets are achieved and met, and that we bring development, prosperity and security to the good people of the state.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 58 ACCOUNTABILITY: THE TRANSPARENCY BRIEFINGS

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 59 BAYELSAʹS MONEY IS FOR DEVELOPMENT, NOT FOR HANDOUTS

Remarks at the monthly transparency brieﬁng for January 2012

he statutory allocation to Bayelsa for January was N2, 380,587,000 (two billion three hundred and eighty million five Thundred and eighty seven thousand Naira). That allocation is where the bulk of your income now comes from and which is why we need to diversify our economy. Derivation income that we received was Ten Billion eight hundred and sixty nine million Naira (N10, 869,000,00). From Vat we received four hundred and ninety seven million Naira (N497, 000,00). For sureP program we received for the month of January one billion one hundred and sixty five million seven hundred and ninety seven thousand Naira (N1, 165,797,000.00) and then there was an NNPC Refund which came to three hundred and eleven million Naira (N 311,000,000,00). So the gross inflow for January was sixteen billion two hundred and sixteen million three hundred and sixty five thousand seven hundred and sixty five Naira eightyseven kobo (N16, 216,365,765.87). There are liabilities the Ministry of Finance sorts out with the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Accountant General Office at the federal level. These deductions came to two billion

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 60 BAYELSA STATE GOVERNOR, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON (CENTRE) HIS DEPUTY, REAR ADMIRAL GBORIBIOGHA JOHN JONAH RTD. (RIGHT) AND THE SPEAKER OF THE STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, RT. HON. KOMBOWEI BENSON DURING THE MONTHLY TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE PRESS BRIEFING FOR THE MONTH OF FEB. 2012

three hundred and sixty ﬁve million six hundred and ninety thousand three hundred and sixteen Naira (N2, 365, 690, 316.00).

We have pending bond obligation which we must service and that is deducted at source (N1, 214, 109, 426.57). There are deductions for foreign loans recovery by the federal Government (N12, 000,480,00). Every month they are deducting certain amount to service excess crude payments received by the previous administration. This is the 27th monthly deduction and that one was (N509, 000, 813.20). There is a comprehensive recovery of an over payment that was made to the previous government which is the 14th of 72 installments. So every month for 72 months they will be taking that. That came to (N392, 885, 300.83). There is a forty one million (N41, 000, 000.00) deduction at source also being repayments on commercial agricultural credit scheme received by the previous administration.

By the way this one if it is well utilized was very well worth it. So the total deduction at source came as I said to two billion three hundred

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 61 and eighty five million two hundred and ninety thousand three hundred and fieen Naira ninetysix kobo (N2, 385, 290, 315.96). These were the total deductions. If you deducted this from the gross (N16.216 billion) you now get a balance net inflow of N12, 829, 675, 539.91. This is what we now received here. And for the month of January we are working very hard and with support of our citizens our IGR has started going up. The IGR for December which we now got for the month of January is N427, 000, 000.00. When we started it was less than N 15,000, 000.00 but now gradually it is coming up and we have just introduced a new tax regime. But this is still not good enough.

Our aspiration is to get to the level where from our IGR we should be in a position to meet our recurrent obligation as a state. It is only then that we can fully say we are selfsustaining and we are in control otherwise we will be building our economy on oil receipt that is not within our control. The other outﬂows apart from the tax deductions, apart from paying the bondʹs obligations, are inherited bank liabilities. I think when you are talking of state liabilities you must be very careful so that you do not approach it in a way that you throw away the baby with the bath water because however much you disagree with the nature of the inheritance it is important that we protect the corporate integrity of the state. So we are regularly servicing all those obligations. We have bank repayments of over N1.9 billion. Then we paid FIRS deductions that were not collected and remied which they are now collecting from us that came to N200 million.

We donʹt need to owe these things. It is not your money. We are only a collecting agent. We should collect it and send it forth. So we are now paying back. We have paid N200 million for the month of January. Every month we pay them.

As for salaries, this is critical. When we started, our wage bill was N5 billion but because of various measures we have been taking it has come down substantially. We are going to do even more because we

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 62 must bring down our recurrent wage bill to the barest minimum. You still have many fake names on our payroll. For example in the primary school system you have 5,267 teachers but you have 7000 approaching 8000 non academic staﬀ by way of security guards, cleaners, clerks who do not work. How can we have nonacademic staﬀ that are more in number than the number of teachers in our schools? Meanwhile the people we really need in these schools are the teachers. We have got to employ more teachers in the state. We donʹt have enough teachers. We are going to take some decisions to streamline our economy. Some of these decisions could be very bier but they are necessary.

We donʹt need almost 8000 workers who donʹt work. They earn maybe N30, 000, N25, 000 or N20, 000 but when you aggregate this, it is massive. And that is from the primary school system alone. In the local government system, it is the same thing. Once somebody becomes a chairman or councillor they list members of their communities, all their relations, some as old as 80 years and put them on the payroll.

Now if we have to run a welfare system we must think it through. So as your government takes some necessary but painful decisions we count on your understanding and support because the right thing has to be done. I wouldnʹt want any Governor coming aer me to inherit this type of situation because it is unhealthy and it is not sustainable. Our wage bill for January is N 3.873 billion. This is in a way still too high so we all can collectively discuss and see how we can address it. Political appointees salaries in the state came to N304, 804, 763.41. Because of the state of our economy we made several appointments. But this is not much of a problem because we know them, they are human beings, they are not fake names, they were appointed, they are doing their work. The monthly overhead of the state which used to be about two billion Naira has now been brought down to about one billion Naira. For the running of Government House, the ministries and parastatals, comes up to N1, 066, 133, 000.00. Again this is still too high. Monthly standing approval including for traditional institutions came to N227

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 63 million.

As you are aware we have by law set up a state savings account and every month we are saving a minimum of N250 million for the rainy day. So for the month of January we will meet that obligation and N250 million must be paid into that account. That account is about N304 million right now. Because of the ﬂood we had cause to run to the Assembly for permission to access N1.5 billion because the law is structured in such a way that the Governor has no control over the account and we made it so deliberately. Even the Assembly cannot easily approve, as it needs a 2/3rd majority not simple majority. So there must be a compelling need before the fund can be accessed because we are keeping it for the future.

We paid N1 billion to Bank of Industry so that we can begin to give loans for small and medium business enterprises so people build businesses. Now we have inherited gratuity obligations of our retirees and very senior citizens who served our state to the tune of almost N4 billion. This state has been owing gratuity for the past 56 years and which is very unfortunate but that was what we met. So every month we have directed that we keep aside N250 million and we have been doing that now for the past 5 months and right now the account is about N1, 250, 000, 000.00 out of which in last two weeks I gave N500 million as payments to the commiee to oﬀset the gratuity.

Now NDU, our only tertiary institution has some issues of unpaid arrears. For January we set aside N100 million for payment of those outstanding salaries and so on.

So if you add all these outﬂows that I have mentioned it comes to N7, 751, 849, 816.20. The outﬂow is so much. And that is why your Government has decided to be prudent and I donʹt mind to be called ʹʹtighthandʹʹ Governor. The reality is that there is no free money to throw around. There is no way we can pay all these contractors who are

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 64 working if we are not prudent. I tell you we are not owing a single contractor, none! Thatʹs why we are controlling funds very well. They say my hand is araldite. But I need your understanding. It is for our own good. We are also trying to give jobs to people to do. That is the way we can support you, not free money being thrown around. I donʹt do that myself so I donʹt see why I should allow anybody to do so. Well it is your money not mine. I have a duty to manage it in your best interest.

The details of these capital releases by your Government you have the right to know. I will authorize the Auditor General to audit the account and then release it to the numbers of the public. I think they should do that very, very fast. Let them get the audited account ready and released to the public.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 65 WE MUST REDUCE WASTE AND BLOCK LEAKAGES

Address at the transparency brieﬁng for the months of March and April delivered on April 25, 2012.

his aernoon ladies and gentlemen, we are assembled here in fulﬁllment of the promise we made concerning the Bayelsa Ttransparency project. You will recall that some weeks back, we assembled in this same hall where we laid out our commitment to one of the cardinal pillars of the restoration project, which is transparency and accountability to the people of Bayelsa state.

It is not because any law requires us to do that but we recognize the fundamental right of the people to know the activities of their government and those who exercise public authority on their behalf. I want to thank you for all the support you have given us in the pursuit of this initiative.

On the 15th of March, I told you that I had set up a commiee to ascertain the huge debt proﬁle inherited not just from the previous administration. The commiee is working. So for the month of March the Government of Bayelsa received N17, 965,168,389 from the Federated Account. The outﬂow is as follows:

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 66 LRIGHT: FINANCE COMMISSIONER, MR. DUATE IYABI, SECRETARY TO THE STATE GOVT, PROF. EDMUND ALLISONOGURU, THE STATE GOVERNOR, HON.SERIAKE DICKSON, HIS DEP. REAR ADMIRAL GBORIBIOGHA JOHN JONAH RTD,AND THE FORMER HEAD OF SERVICE, MRS. GLORIA IZONFUO DURING THE MONTHLY TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE PRESS BRIEFING FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH AND APRIL 2012 IN YENAGOA

Loan repayment took half a billion (N500million). The Federal Inland Revenue Service deductions took N200million. Salaries and allowances of the public service which, have been a problem, took N4.1billion Overhead payment stands at N792million. Other recurrent payments came up to N791m. Capital payment for ongoing projects that needs urgent aention amounts to N583m. We have debts that gulped N249m. Now with our Cash On Transfer position, we have spent N58m. When you take all this away from the allocation, we are le for the month of March with N10, 250,000,000.

You will recall that aer my assumption of oﬃce we created two accounts, the Bayelsa Strategic Development Project Account and Bayelsa Strategic Savings Account. So what we did was to transfer N10bn to the project account and it is there as we speak. The remaining N250m we transferred to the Strategic Savings Account as savings for the month. In other words, aer paying the salaries and aer the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 67 recurrent funds, your government has not done any other thing apart from transferring into the savings account for future use and we will brief you monthly about the expenditure of these funds. And we will also brief you about our reserves at the Strategic Development Project Account, which is now N15bn while the Strategic Savings Account has a reserve of N2.2bn. But just 2 days ago and upon my arrival this aernoon, I received advice from the Commissioner for Finance that we have received the allocation for the month of April.

So I want to also go ahead to prepare the projected receipt for the month just as promised. The net inﬂow from the Federation Account to your state reduced drastically. This is why we have to be careful; this is why I always keep on making the point that we must reduce our recurrent expenditure.

Oil is the mainstay of our economy but we are not in control of the variables that determine the oil market at the international level. So while we received N17bn for March, the net inﬂow received for the month of April is N12, 180,553,189bn. Now you see why we must all work hard to reduce the recurrent burden of government. You can also see why all must work hard to increase our IGR, so that at a point, we will be in a position like some states in this federation, to meet our recurrent expenditure burden on the strength of our IGR. That is our ultimate goal but we are not there yet. I believe if we work hard and reduce corruption, block all leakages and wastages, work earnestly to increase our IGR, I think we will get there in no distant time.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 68 The net inflow from the Federation Account in the month of April is N12.18bn. Now outflow starts with Loan Repayment, because as you keep paying, it keeps reducing. Loan repayment gulped N584m; FIRS deduction took N200m. As a result of the steps we are taking so far on verification of public sector salary, we have reduced it from N4.2bn to N3.8bn for this month. We have made savings of over N300m in just 3 weeks of action. Let me tell you this, we have just started; they have not seen anything yet. For other provisional overhead payments the amount they have worked out is N844m. WAEC and NECO fees and other related payments come to N214, 780,200 and I gave instructions that they should be paid immediately. Other Recurrent Payments provision stands at N750m, for loans and obligations we already have with the bank, N250m. The cash on transfer charges also reduced to N36m because we have not borrowed any money from banks. So from the N12bn, our outflow to meet certain obligations for this month is N6, 737,995,593 leaving a net balance of N5, 962,751,463. So in laymanʹs terms, we have also saved N5.9bn for the month of April. If you add N5.9bn to N17.250bn, out of last monthʹs receipt, your state now has N23, 202,751,463. That is the total liquidity position of the state.

Now let me thank you all, especially all hard working members of the public service whose payment in the past couple of weeks appeared to be irregular or slightly delayed. Not because we donʹt have the money to pay them but because of the delays that are normal to the veriﬁcation exercise. I want to use this opportunity to call for the understanding of all honest and hard working civil servants in Bayelsa in all we are doing.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 69 WE ARE CREATING THE ENVIRONMENT FOR PROGRESS

Address at the transparency press brieﬁng for the month of May delivered on Thursday June 6, 2012.

ith a great sense of duty and commitment to the ideals that we have set out to promote and entrench in our Wsystem, I welcome you all most sincerely to this third transparency brieﬁng.

Let me thank you all for the support and solidarity you have all extended to us and also for the prayers and for peace and harmony that we now enjoy in this state. Let me go straight to render our statement of accounts for the month of May.

For the month of May, we had a drastic reduction of what came into this state and what we got was N11, 971,214,230. In February, we got about N17bn but the month of May you can see was a far cry from that.

That, you see, underscores why we have to be prudent with the ﬁnances of the state. That is why we must not spend the stateʹs funds the way we donʹt even spend our own personal resources. We must be prudent because we donʹt know what will come tomorrow.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 70 GOVERNOR OF BAYELSA STATE, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON SPEAKING DURING THE PRESS BRIEFING

Our entire economy is tied to a commodity that is volatile over which we have no control. You know that the previous administration commied this state into very serious ﬁnancial obligations and we are paying so much monthly to service loans and bonds.

The ﬁrst bond obligation for the month is N1, 241,107,428. Now that was not money that came to the state; that was your money that was taken at source. Foreign loans and other obligations came up to N15, 156,361. Excess crude oil deductions for payment to the previous government amount to a refund of N509, 801,020.

All of these were taken from source. Again, refund of over payment made to the previous administration for which we are paying from source is N187, 836,410. Another over payment to the previous administration amounted to N392, 885,383.

We are paying for fertilizers and I will be interested to have a report on this from the Commissioner of Agriculture. There is a deduction of N114m on account of supply of fertilizer to this state. I am interested in

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 71 geing a report from the Ministry of Agriculture on account of supply of the fertilizers to this state within the next one week detailing how much fertilizer we got, who supplied it and who were the beneﬁciaries.

Now when you take away all these deductions, we are le with N9, 624,415,626. From this fund, I have also made the following loan payments apart from the bonds and other loans we are indebted. I have directed the payment of N717m for a loan the state is indebted to and there is a tax from the FIRS of N200m.

Now, salaries of civil servants. When we took over, our total salary payment was about N5bn and thankfully with the eﬀort of all of you who have supported the government to take certain decisions in the interest of the state and because of the on going veriﬁcation exercise, this month our obligation is N3,886bn. For my political appointees, all their emoluments, including my salary came up to N146m as against almost N500m in the previous administration.

The monthly overhead was about N1.9bn when we took over but today it stands at N816m. There is what they call, ISPO which is a standing payment instruction entered into by the previous administration in favour of Skye Bank and this is the ﬁnal payment and it is N249m.

This leaves us therefore, with a balance of N3, 122,481,643. Out of this, we have made our compulsory savings, which you know we signed into law to support and I have authorized the savings of N250m for the future. When you add what is le with the ones that we have saved in previous months, we have N24.500bn.

Of this sum, you know that N2.750bn is for the Strategic Reserve Account and it is backed up by law. In this state no governor has the power to authorize expenditure from that account. It has to be done in extreme cases of necessity and supported by twothirds majority support of the State Assembly.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 72 That is how diﬃcult we have made it. So that we can begin to save for tomorrow, for the children not yet born. When you take this sum out, what we have for Capital Projects in the account that we call, the Bayelsa State Strategic Development Project Account, is about N22bn.

Now my brothers and sisters, we were due yesterday and today to present cheques to most of our development partners that are undertaking major projects in this state, but because of the air disaster, as I am told, most of the companies have their staﬀ in that illfated aircra we cannot do so.

I want to use this opportunity to condole with the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and families of all those who lost their lives in that unfortunate crash. May their souls rest in peace.

That presentation will now be made on Friday. Out of the remaining N22bn, I have authorized several payments to enable these contractors not just to move back to Yenagoa but also to begin construction.

When the cheques are presented, we will also make a transparency report by announcing to you people the amounts that will be paid to each and every one of them. I assure you that the journey of restoration is on course. The only contract that we are not going to mobilize immediately out of the three senatorial roads, is that of the Nembe/Brass road, which you know was recently revoked.

Thank you very much for your kind aention and for working with us to create the enabling environment without which no development, either private or public can take place.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 73 ACCOUNTABILITY IS THE FULCRUM OF GOOD GOVERNANCE

Address at the monthly transparency initiative press brieﬁng for the month of June 2012

You are all welcome to our transparency brieﬁng. You know it is a monthly ritual because we feel that the people have a right to know all about the activities of government and to call their leaders to account. That is the essence of democracy. Without respect for the right of the people to know, there is no accountability. And that is exactly what we promised Bayelsans and that is what weʹve been delivering since we came on board. And that is what we will continue to do throughout our tenure.

My dear Bayelsans, it has now been four months since we all started on this restoration journey. Let me use this opportunity to thank you all for your support and abiding solidarity and most importantly for your prayers. Let me give you an account of our ﬁnances, that is, between the last time we had the press brieﬁng and now and then I will make one or two policy statements.

For the month of June, the total inﬂow was N13, 045,649,174.09k. And

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 74 Commissioner of Works, Engr. Lawrence Erudjakpo (right) brieﬁng the press about his Ministries achievements during the press brieﬁng

the deductions are as follows:

Bond deduction – N1, 241,107,428.57

Loan deduction – N15, 156,361.46k

There was another repayment of N509, 813,020.90k.

They said the state account was overpaid and we are repaying. I think this is the twentieth instalmental deduction. They deducted N187, 836,410. There was also another deduction of N372, 885,383.52k.

When you add all these amounts deducted at source for servicing the bond facility and other liabilities of the state, you have a total deduction of N2, 346,798,605.11k.

That is money we did not see at all as it was deducted as source. Now, that leaves us with a balance of N10, 698,850,568.98k. That is the amount that came to us aer all the deductions I highlighted above.

Our internally generated revenue has remained very low. I have always

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 75 said we must work hard at it so that we can build it up and now it has risen to N324, 842,201.82k as IGR for the month. So, total funds available came up to over N11bn.

Outﬂow:

Federal Inland Revenue deduction gulped N200 million. That is another obligation we serviced in terms of repayment of loans. The ﬁrst ones I talked about were those deducted at source. So in addition to that, our government inherited loans we have to service and those payments took N923 million.

Now, payment of salaries of civil servants, which you know has been a problem. But I am thankful to the people of this state for their support. I am also thankful to our hardworking and patriotic civil servants for their understanding. And with the measures we have put in place, we have been able to reduce the wage bill gradually. And so far this month we spent N3.985 billion. Remember when we started, it was over 5 billion, in fact almost 6 billion naira. But now it is N3.9 billion, which to us is still not good enough. So work on it is in progress and very soon, I will brief you about additional measures that we have taken.

Just yesterday I sent a bill to the House of Assembly to criminalize all forms of payroll fraud in this state. While we are taking administrative measures as a government founded on the rule of law and I being a man of the law through and through both in its making and interpretation, we believe that our society should be regulated only through the instrumentality of the law.

Just as we sent a bill to the House to criminalize cultism, yesterday I forwarded another bill to criminalize all forms of payroll fraud and sharp practices associated with emoluments and allowances and salaries in the public sector.

I expect that the House of Assembly will as usual, give expeditious

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 76 consideration to that bill and others I forwarded to them. Let me therefore use this opportunity to serve notice to all civil servants and particularly the few bad ones who still have not realized this that the days of payroll fraud and selfenrichment at the expense of the common good are over.

They and their collaborators are yet to come to terms with that. What they donʹt know is that we are fully on top of the situation and that I have reports daily as to what is going on in all departments of the public service. We have deliberately slowed down because we want a special law to deal with those fraudulent people.

We donʹt want to apply the regular provisions in the criminal code. We want a special law and this bill that I have just sent to the House of Assembly, when passed and assented to law, will mean that anybody found guilty will serve ten years in prison without an option of ﬁne.

And so, to the few of you who are thinking you are smart, let me tell you that you cannot outsmart this system. The system will catch each and every one of you with your collaborators. Those of you falsifying your age declaration and retirement dates, grade levels and steps, we will catch you.

And let me put you on notice that we donʹt want to touch you until we have this law in place. Once this law is in place, you will see what will happen. But you still have time to change and join the majority of our people who are commied to the restoration of this great land.

Still on salaries, let us move to the political appointeesʹ salaries. When we started some people were complaining that, “a government that is talking about cuing cost, you are appointing too many people”.

But they took for granted the commitment and patriotism of the restoration team, which is made up of very commied people. Let me thank all appointees for their understanding and support because we

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 77 reduced 15 percent of your salaries and emoluments.

That is the sacriﬁce you have been making. And I also know that you work like private sector workers. Those who have encountered you from within and outside the state will aest to that. So let me say again as I have said always that I am proud having you all in Team Restoration.

The amount paid as salaries of political appointees cuing across all cadres is far less than what it used to be. It was 400 to 500 million naira every month, but now all of you put together with all you are doing, this month we spent N131 million.

Overhead liabilities of the state have remained at less than a billion Naira against the over two billion Naira, which used to be the case. And our overhead responsibility even with all the things we are doing like security investment and all that is N904 million as against over two billion Naira.

So, aer servicing all the liabilities most of which we inherited and were clearly spurious, we were le with N4.72 billion. But we bear the responsibility because government is a continuum. And until those liabilities are formally and legally challenged and impugned, youʹve got to satisfy them as a responsible government. That is exactly what we are doing.

You know that we have been making savings since we came. In the course of our transparency brieﬁng last month, I made it clear that the real business of restoration was to go on.

And a few days aer the statement you saw what happened, how we started making payments to our major contractors and development partners. Let me use this occasion also to thank the management and staﬀ of Julius Berger Plc for promptly moving to site to commence the business of restoration in Bayelsa.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 78 Let me also thank the management and oﬃcials of Setraco for being alive to their contractual obligations as well as the leadership and staﬀ of the Chinese Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC). They were the companies we paid and as you all know they are undertaking various projects.

Several other construction projects have been awarded, some contractors are being mobilized to site and work is on going while for others, mobilization is in progress.

Last month I reported a balance of over twenty billion Naira. But you know we had to pay the contractors out of that amount. So, the brief I have here is that all the capital payments we made came up to N9, 333,922,339.69.

If you take this from the balance I announced last month before we made the payments, we now have a balance of N17, 784,836,668.41k. From this, we are making our monthly mandatory savings, which is, the Bayelsa Strategic Reserves. I have ordered the transfer of the sum of N250 million as our compulsory savings for this month.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, this in summary is the ﬁnancial position of the state. I have directed the Ministry of Finance and the Auditor General of the state to produce quarterly audited accounts of the state. And this report when produced should be available to members of the public.

So any person who wants to know how much every ministry has spent for each month and for what project and to whom, should go there and get the audited accounts because it is your right.

There is no free lunch any more in Bayelsa

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 79 We have commied ourselves in an MOU with the Chinese Company, which Iʹm told is one of the three largest construction companies. And we have told them to help us do the surveys, carry out preliminary studies and start work on the NembeBrass road.

We have also arranged with them to begin studies so that we can consequently award contract for the construction of the road from Ekeremor to Agge to them. But because we must prepare the state for the future especially now that we know that Brass is going to be the oil and gas hub not only in Nigeria but of the entire subregion and with the plans we have for the deep seaport Agge, we know that we will need to diversify the mode of transportation.

Still on this MOU with the Chinese Construction Company, we will also construct a rail line from Yenagoa to Brass and from Yenagoa to Agge and connect them with possibly the airport that we will construct.

So, the airport, our state capital, Yenagoa and the deep seaport at Agge as well as the oil and gas hub in Brass will not only be connected by road but also by rail. That is the arrangement we have made. Now, you will agree that this is a very ambitious infrastructural agenda. But we know that with the discipline and transparency that we have brought to government and with your support and prayers we will get there.

Once they are through with the designs and we have determined the total cost, our obligation is to pay between 20% and 30% and the Chinese company (with the ﬁnancial muscle of their supporting government) will now source for funding for the remaining 70% or 80% whatever the case may be. That is the agreement we have just signed in the MOU.

As they conclude the preliminary designs and studies and by the time we complete detailed negotiations, we shall brief you on the next step we will take. But for now it is an MOU.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 80 And those living in these areas of NembeBrass and Sagbama Ekeremor and Agee should expect to see the Chinese working in your territory very soon. I want to use this opportunity to call on you to extend our usual support and cooperation to them. They are our friends and partners in development.

Let me particularly call on our law abiding youths who have been very supportive with their conduct ever since we came on board to cooperate with companies handling these jobs so that we can create more jobs for you.

For the traditional institutions, I want to say that this is a major challenge. But I know that you are going to live up to it and I will personally interact with most of the traditional rulers and opinion leaders in the aﬀected areas before our partners move to site which, will not be more than 2 or 3 weeks from today.

Let me also announce to you that I inaugurated the state commiee on HIV/AIDS yesterday. I want to use every public forum and opportunity to begin to caution our people and let them know that there is a future. The statistics that I have been given are not encouraging. The situation is very distressing.

We want to be known for more positive things in this country. We want to turn our people around to be an army of champions. The fact that we are among the top ten states in terms of the prevalence rate, is a very serious maer.

I want to use this opportunity to call on religious, opinion and political leaders and indeed all of us not to leave that job only to the commiee that I inaugurated yesterday. Of course, because of the seriousness I aach to this, I sent a bill to the House of Assembly.

And the House as usual gave expeditious passage to the law that has created the agency.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 81 While we build the roads, bridges, schools and hospitals, all of these will be nothing if we do not have a healthy population and workforce. And that is why this issue of HIV/AIDS should be taken with all seriousness.

We have also noticed with sadness the rate of accidents particularly on the streets of Yenagoa that are associated with commercial motorcycle riders in this state. And so we are going to introduce a policy to ensure that at the end of this month, we are going to ban them in Yenagoa.

Everyday our people are maimed and killed for no fault of theirs. We would have announced this policy earlier but I want to leave this window between now and the end of the month to do two things. Firstly, to let all road users and riders know that there is now a paradigm shi.

Secondly, it is to also give them an opportunity to begin to prepare for the transition. I donʹt want to apply the style we are used to “with immediate eﬀect”. No, that will be a wrong policy because we must provide an alternative.

These motorcycle operators in Bayelsa who can aﬀord tricycles like the keke NAPEP and buses should begin to look in that direction. Your government will between now and the end of the month also provide a system by which those who are certiﬁed drivers will get registered with the Ministry of Transport.

For those who cannot aﬀord to procure keke NAPEP, government will provide and give to them. But we will not give everybody. Secondly, they must have the requisite skills to operate the vehicles and thirdly they must be registered. Now let me tell you this, there is no free lunch again in Bayelsa.

That means the keke NAPEP and other forms of transport that we will provide will be paid for by the allotees. It will not be business as usual

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 82 because I have seen reports where the Bayelsa Stimulus Scheme was beer known for displaying photographs than for anything else.

In this system, you must pay and get people to serve as guarantors. What we will do as a state is to make a collective arrangement and where possible, make bulk purchase so that the price will be lower and then work out a system with the banks so that as you get it, you pay yourself.

So for those of you who will beneﬁt donʹt ever think it is free government thing again. We are only coming in to bridge the gap and support you.

But we will also do something in addition; we are working very hard to ﬁnish the driving school in this state so that all of you who want to learn how to drive will do so free of charge in that school. We want to also expand the roads.

Between now and next year, you will see good roads with streets lights in this state. So, between now and that time, I want to plead with commercial motorcycle riders to take it easy; abstain from alcohol and other things that intoxicate most of you.

And if you have not taken special lessons in driving or riding, please hold on and aend our driving school. We will teach you how to do it and donʹt get our people killed on the roads. Finally, I thank you for ﬁnding time to aend this brieﬁng. And let me again assure you all that your future is guaranteed and safe in our hands and that the restoration process is on course. Thank you and God bless you all.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 83 WE ARE TRANSPARENT FOR ALL TO SEE

Address at the transparency press brieﬁng for the month of July on Saturday August 17, 2012

et me welcome you all to the 5th transparency brieﬁng of this administration. Today the format will change slightly. Today Lwe want to again lead the way in demonstrating that top government oﬃcials must work together and must at all times be in the know of policies and decisions of the government.

In our government we work as a team and that was what we were elected to do. Accordingly my brother and ally, His Excellency the Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonah retired but still serving will render the transparency brieﬁng for this month. In this new Bayelsa state the account of the government of Bayelsa state will cease to be a closely guarded secret between a Governor, his AccountantGeneral and Commissioner for Finance. And that is what we are demonstrating to the people of the state. Let me also remind you that today is Ijaw cultural day. As you know every Friday is our traditional day and that is part of cultural revival that this government is pursuing. We cannot be ashamed of our culture or run away from our

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 84 BAYELSA STATE GOVERNOR, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON (CENTRE) HIS DEPUTY, REAR ADMIRAL GBORIBIOGHA JOHN JONAH RTD, (LEFT) AND THE SPEAKER OF THE STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY, RT. HON. KOMBOWE BENSON AT THE PRESS BRIEFING.

history. We are determined to promote our identity. I want to thank all of you and those who are compliant.

Funds reserves as the balance for June 2012 is N12, 805,644,485. Strategic Savings account is N3bn. Subsidy reinvestment account is N1, 979,192,122. The balance brought forward from June 2012 is N17, 784,836. Recurrent expenditure provision for June was N1.5bn. That brought the balance to N19, 284,836,698. Certain payments and transfers were made and the actual recurrent payment is N2, 419,122,642. There was an additional overhead of N32m. This brought our balance down to N16, 833,966. There was also capital payment in July of N2, 146,187,179. So the balance aer capital payment was N14, 687,596,786. The following is the statement aer allocation from the federal account: Statutory allocation N2, 390,305,479 Derivation account N7, 740,175,466 VAT N545, 766,343

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 85 Subsidy reinvestment program N1, 018,581,053 NNPCN refund N311, 669,246 Gross inﬂow N12, 006,437,589 Total deduction of loans/bond from source N3, 210,952,255

BREAK DOWN OF DEDUCTION Bond N1, 141,107,428 Loan/FG recovery: N15, 156,361 Refund of excess crude payment account: N509, 813,020 Refund of 13% derivation from August 2008 – December 2009: N 1 8 7 , 830,410 Repayment of 13% derivation indices from November 2006 to June 2010: N392, 885,383 Refund of overhead: N864, 163,649 Net inﬂow from FAAC: N8, 795,475,334 IGR June 2012: N362, 904,540 Account balance brought forward is N95, 266,859 Total funds available then N9, 063,133,053

OUTFLOW Bank loan repayment: N923m FIRS deduction: N200m Civil servants salaries: N3, 894,069,705 Salaries for political appointees: N215, 900,080 Overhead: N936, 133,000 Monthly standing approvals: N91, 397,000 Monthly revenue Consultancy: N30m Gratuity for retiring civil servants July 2012: N227, 410495 Gratuity for retiring primary school teachers in July 2012: N169, 453,534

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 86 COT: N32, 096,550 Balance from July Federal Allocation Account Commiee including subsidy reinvestment fund is therefore N2, 143,662,649 Recurrent payments made aer 28 July 2012 which amounts to N 4 5 2 , 395,458 Capital payments made 20 July 2012 amounts to N970, 500,000 Transfer SUBEB: N1, 018,581,063 Transfer to strategic savings: N250m So when you sum up that you have N2, 693,476,512 This brings the deﬁcit of N549, 813,863 There were some special funds, one of which amounted to N5, 111,512,494 SUREP N1, 018,581,050

Strategic savings N250, 000,000

Net fund including special funds N5, 830,279,683

When you add net fund including special fund and capital balance aer payments in June the balance in our favour in July is N20, 517,876,469.

This is the account statement of the state as at the end of July 31st 2012.

We have identified human capacity building as the single most important challenge of our time in this State and have intensified efforts in that direction.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 87 EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT MUST BE HELD TO ACCOUNT

Bayelsa state monthly transparency initiative press brieﬁng by Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson, governor of Bayelsa State, for the month of November and held on December 24 2012.

oday, we are here gathered for the last monthly transparency brieﬁng for year 2012. We have been very faithful to our Tpromise to run a transparent and accountable system backed by law with very dire consequences for failure in a bill proposed by us. We have been complying and I like to thank you all for ﬁnding time to be part of this.

This is our statement of account as at the end of November. We will give the account of December by January 2013.

Statutory Allocation from the FAAC ______N2,194, 025.461

13% Derivation______N9,57,278,450,44

VAT______N625,316,631,61

Disbursements on account of SUREP______#1,65,666,656,47

Refund in favour of Bayelsa State______N311,669,296,40

Gross Inﬂow______N13,453,956,496,43

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 88 BAYELSA STATE GOVERNOR, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON (2NDLEFT) HIS DEPUTY, REAR ADMIRAL GBORIBIOGHA JOHN JONAH RTD, (2NDLEFT) SPEAKER OF THE STATE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY. RT. HON. KOMBOWE BENSON (LEFT) AND THE FINANCE COMMISSIONER, MR.DUATE IYABI (RIGHT) DURING THE MONTHLY TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE PRESS BRIEFING FOR THE MONTHS OF SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER 2012 IN YENAGOA

DEDUCTIONS:

Total Deductions at source______N2,385,690,315,96

Breakdown of the deductions is as follows:

Bonds______N1,241,107,428,57

Refund on savings from Excess Crude Account_____N509,813,20

Deduction on overpayment______N187,836,110

Other statutory deductions ______N292,885,383,62

IGR For November______N413m

Donation For Flood Victims______N7m

NET OUTFLOWS

Bank Loans______N1,23m

FIRS Deduction______N200m

Salaries Of Civil Servants______N3.768bn

Salaries Of Political Appointees______N327m

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 89 Overhead Payment______N1.6bn

Gratuities/Pensions (funds so far set aside for retirees) ______N750m

Balance brought forward from October______N23,572,937,105,68

Recurrent Expenditure______N2bn

Capital Expenditure______N9bn

Balance Of Funds Available______N20,809,108,172,38

The details of all capital and recurrent expenditures are here; this is a release from the AccountantGeneralʹs oﬃce. I have directed the oﬃce to make details of the monthly earnings and expenditures available for people to look at.

For example, for Ministry of Works alone, we have awarded a contract for the dualization of Igbogene junction to the Gloryland Drive and we have paid a mobilization of N222, 844bn as well as construction of a dualized road amounting to N531m which has been paid; construction of road 13 and the one around the 5 Star Hotel and so on are all in the statement of account.

In the Ministry of Energy, there was a transfer of N1.63bn; we also paid counterpart fund to the World Bank N150m and in the Ministry of Education we have paid N1.3bn for the construction of model secondary schools in the state.

There is also going to be construction of administrative block and hostels at St. Judeʹs Secondary School, which we intend to transform to be our elite girlsʹ school and we have set aside N196m.

Construction of classrooms and ICT blocks and car park at the College of Education amount to N569m and all other details are in the document ministry by ministry.

Now that the year has come to an end, the state AuditorGeneral and others will conclude their work so that the audited accounts of the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 90 Government of Bayelsa State will also be made available to the public. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what we have done, your development is on course and your future is assured. I know that because of the robust nature of our agenda and the commitment and enthusiasm that we all have to see it through some concern has been expressed as to whether we are not doing too much.

The truth is that people ﬁnd it diﬃcult to believe that all this is possible. Of course it is possible with commitment and dedication and prudent management of scarce resources, a lot more can be done and we want to even do more.

We should not be discouraged and we cannot be discouraged. There is so much out there waiting to be done. I take that actually as a compliment. I would have been worried if the concern was that nothing was going on but if they say, within this short period, so much work is going on that they canʹt believe it is true; they canʹt believe it is possible, then, Iʹm very happy with that. It means we are on the right track.

Let me say that those concerns are legitimate; there are people who wish us well. There is no project that we have started that has not received adequate funding. None. All projects are well funded and work is going on.

We have our savings; there are not many states that have this type of arrangement where, before you go to another month, you have this type of robust savings that is more than your three monthly income.

I assure you all that all projects would continue to receive adequate funding as well as several other projects that we have taken over because government is a continuum; we wonʹt allow any project initiated by any previous regime that is meant to address any problem to be abandoned. All those ones will receive equal aention.

By next year, we will show more commitment and you will see more results in some other areas because of the need for investment in human

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 91 capacity building. You have seen massive investments in education.

You have also seen massive investment in infrastructure this year even though the ﬂood came and took us back but work has started again. The Hon. Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure will also list the road contracts to be awarded. This whole state will be turned into a massive construction site for our people.

Let me thank the people of this state, that I appreciate the problems associated with the traﬃc congestion in Yenagoa, the state capital. They should bear with us; that is what they voted for. They voted for development and construction and more construction work.

They should know that in this life, they cannot have their cake and eat it. For you to have omelet, you must ﬁrst break eggs. Now, we are at the stage of breaking the eggs. We assure you that as soon as the on going construction works which, by the way are being handled by reputable companies, are completed, traﬃc congestion will be a thing of the past.

The culture of stealing from the people and appearing to be a Father Christmas must stop. We are not stealing money to give to boys and girls. We know that the elites also encourage that mentality; instead of telling the young ones the truth that they must take responsibility for their lives, instead of working hard to set up the framework, that will enable the young ones live independent lives, we have a formation of armies of unemployed youths.

Until recently, people were even given drugs and AK47 guns and assisting them to be cult leaders and giving them peanuts. So we have a whole generation growing up with this mentality of entitlement; this mentality that they must get something or everything for nothing.

We are not going to steal from our people to sustain that tradition so let me use this opportunity to call on the youths and people of this state to rise to the occasion. We are proud Ijaw men and women; we are not known for being slaves. They should discard their slavish mentality.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 92 We want a modern state capital for our people and that is why, in spite of the road projects that we have on going, we cannot resist the temptation of awarding work for the construction of strategic roads in Yenagoa, to prepare the city for expansion that is inevitable.

One of the roads that we will look at, is the expansion of the road from Gloryland drive at Igbogene to the Bayelsa Palm road; then our city will be free from traﬃc. Next year, we will look at how we can complete the Gateway road linking Onopa.

In our budget for next year, the Ministry of Transport will work towards addressing the culture of parking vehicles indiscriminately along the very narrow roads in Yenagoa.

We want to have neighbourhood parks equipped with some amenities like car wash, security police post with a capacity of 300 vehicles. Vehicles will be parked for a fee. There is no free lunch in this state anymore. We will also use that to empower people.

We should work hard to aack the dependency syndrome in this state that enslaves our people; that makes it impossible for them to take responsibility for their own lives. They are prepared to hold companies responsible; they are prepared to hold government responsible; they are prepared to hold their elder brothers responsible; yet they themselves are not responsible for their own lives.

Other people are responsible for feeding their children, for clothing them, doing marriage for them, for training their children, for paying their hotel bills, hospital bills and buying and maintaining cars for them. That is a life of slavery and we want to end that dependency syndrome and culture of irresponsibility.

We are working hard to create the necessary framework and institution by which we will encourage our people to indicate interest in doing something for a living. A few days ago, I inaugurated the entrepreneurial capacity building commiee and we are working with

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 93 the Bank of Industry. As I speak, N2bn investible fund is ready. We have no free money to give to people in this state.

Anybody who wants to keep you as a boy or girl for you to say, “Iʹm loyal sir”, that person is an enemy; that is not a friend. So next year, we are going to aggressively engage in the empowerment of our people. We are going to identify people particularly the youths and the hardworking women.

In next yearʹs budget (2013) we have provided over N1 billion for the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 94 Ministry of Women Aﬀairs. While you are clapping, let me also remind you that all those who will beneﬁt from it that this money is not free.

It is not a dash, so before you think of using it to buy George wrapper or buy the latest car in town, let me remind you that we will develop the structures that will enable us train you, ﬁrst to be a good entrepreneur, to take responsibility for your life and livelihood and then have the means by which you can pay back.

This money is supposed to be a revolving loan facility. For the women, I can speak for them because they are hardworking. Most of them are already breadwinners in their various families and I look forward to seeing Bayelsa women go and carry on their lives with honour and dignity.

I want the leaders to start the process of identifying these people so that the commiee that has been set up will begin the process of entrepreneurial training. We are working with the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Bank of Industry as well as other agencies to do this.

Now, before we round oﬀ, I will like to announce our new policy on local government administration. As you are aware, we have just concluded the local government primaries in our party and I congratulate all those who emerged victorious. I also like to salute the commitment of those who could not be ﬂag bearers but generally we had a very peaceful exercise with some complaints here and there, which are to be expected in a political contest.

Generally, we did it in a way that we did not violate our commitment to peace and stability and I want to thank the chairman of our party and all the oﬃcers of our great party.

I want to thank the stakeholders for the deliberate policy on the 35% Aﬃrmative Action, which for the ﬁrst time in this state, saw the emergence of a large number of female councillorship candidates and

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 95 ﬁve female chairmanship candidates.

The women, I think should do beer next time so that they can also emerge chairpersons of councils and you can be sure that you have our support. The leadership of your party is gender sensitive. I want to also plead with the men, some of them who felt they could have won, please bear with us because we need to support our women.

Remember that when we talk about women empowerment and development such women are our mothers, wives, sisters and daughters so I want to thank you for your understanding.

For those who thought their participation was an investment to reap selﬁsh returns, too bad for you, because you have lost your investment. It was a bad investment but I know that generally good care was taken in the selection. Not only have we demonstrated that in this state you do not have to be a cult leader or gangster to be in any position of authority. We have also clearly shown that we should pay greater respect to the quality of leadership at that critical level. They are the closest to our people at the grassroots.

We will try our best as a state government; we also want local government leaders that can work with us as partners to link developmental eﬀorts at the state and local government levels. I know that there was a Supreme Court judgment, which as a lawabiding party and government, we have complied with, however we feel about it.

It was a product of forgery, lies and a lot of things that were wrong and it did not represent the truth. Again it was a failure of leadership of those who were in charge of the government at that time.

Those who were aﬀected also know that this state has moved beyond criminality and violence and corruption and this state will not allow any local government to return to those dark days of brutality,

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 96 primitivity and corruption.

Those who have beneﬁed from that judgment, which ever way they got it, they have a responsibility now to conform to the high standard and demand of the restoration government.

They should know that the allocation to the local government is not personal money anymore and they are not going to have access to it and use it the way they would have loved to. Things have changed. This state has moved beyond that and it is not prepared to return to those days anymore.

Accordingly I have instructed the Deputy Governor, who oversees local government administration and has been doing very well in that regard, with the commissioner in charge of local government administration to ensure that, with eﬀect from this month, no one Naira will be released to any chairman of council in this state unless it is supported by an appropriation from the council with a clear road map for investment in development projects.

With eﬀect from this month, monies will be remied only for payment of salaries directly by the ministry of local government.

Whatever is le, will actually go to the development of local government areas.

Secondly, the Deputy Governor and the Local Government Commission and the Ministry will ensure that no council is allowed to borrow one Naira in the name of any local government anymore..

We do not want Chairmen of councils to suﬀer the fate we are managing where those who are outgoing will go and heap up liabilities and loans and bonds knowing that succeeding governments are bound to honor them, that those who come aer them will shoulder that responsibility while they smile to the banks with stolen funds. That will not be tolerated so banks, you beer beware of this policy. If you are in the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 97 habit of giving loans to fraudulent chairmen and other oﬃcials in this state, you should know that you do so at your own peril. We will also review all facilities that are standing to the credit or liabilities in all our councils. This is not only for this transition period; this is the system we are going to adopt even when new chairmen are elected.

And that is why I said, for those who may have invested money into sponsoring one candidate or the other it is really a bad investment because it will not yield any returns. We will hold every level of government accountable to our own standards; nothing less is acceptable.

For the new chairmen whose antecedents are very well known, let me use this opportunity to warn them publicly, that they should know there is a new system. If they have been thriving and surviving on thuggery, hooliganism and disrespect for the laws, the rules, they should that know there are consequences and the law will at any time, take its course. Having said that, I also welcome them as partners. They have an opportunity to work with the restoration government and to be part of the government if they show compliance with the standard set by law.

Let me on this note thank you all, particularly appointees who have been working under extreme conditions, for your understanding and dedication. Let me also commend the dedication of the leadership of the bureaucracy of the public service, the Head of Service and the permanent secretaries.

As I always say, you are the instrument through which any government works. Let me thank you, wonderful citizens of Bayelsa state for your understanding. We have come to the end of 2012 with all its challenges and trials and tribulations. I want to thank you for standing with us in prayers and solidarity all the way.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 98 OUR TRANSPARENT REGIME IS FIRMLY IN PLACE

Transparency brieﬁng for the months of February and March 2013 delivered on April 19, 2013

et me welcome you all to this edition of our transparency brieﬁng. Today, like we have done for some months in the past, Lwe are going to do the brieﬁng for the months of February and March.

We have taken two months brieﬁng together as you all know as a result of exigencies of state. So I begin with the brieﬁng for the month of February.

For the month of February, the inﬂow into the state was as follows:

Statutory Allocation: N2, 370, 597, 763. 74

Derivation, which is where the bulk of our inﬂow comes from we got, N10, 42,555,170.56.

From VAT, we got N648, 58,310. 71

From the SUREP programme, we got N1, 137, 755,885.5

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 99 BAYELSA STATE GOVERNOR, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON (2NDLEFT) HIS DEPUTY, REAR ADMIRAL GBORIBIOGHA JOHN JONAH (LEFT) AMAYANABO OF TWON BRASS, HIS MAJESTY, KING ALFRED DIETE SPIFF (RIGHT) AND THE FINANCE COMMISSIONER, MR. DUATE IYABI (2NDRIGHT) DURING THE MONTHLY TRANSPARENCY INITIATIVE PRESS BRIEFING FOR THE MONTH OF MAY 2013 IN YENAGOA

There was some augmentation paid and the Finance Commissioner will explain what all of this means. But some augmentation was paid by the Federation Account Commiee and what we got from that heading was N113, 452,170.83.

Now for the month of February, there was a disbursement from the so called Excess Crude Account, and what came to us was N5, 30,673,522.63

There was also an NNPC refund and all these are all concepts known to the members of the FAC. What we got was N311, 669,296.40

Now if you add up all of these, the total inﬂow to our state for the month of February was N19, 654, 762,119.92

On the outﬂow, we begin with deductions by the Federal authorities themselves based on existing obligations and liabilities of the state prior to the commencement of our government. And you are all aware of what we are talking about.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 100 FAC deductions came to N2, 384,427,708.40

I will give you the breakdown of this.

The Bond deduction. There is an existing Bond liability entered into by the previous government and of course you know government is to continue in the interest of the integrity of the state. We have to go with it however much we disagree with it. And that deduction was N1, 241,107,428.57 that was taken at source.

Foreign loans and other loan liabilities; N11m.

There was a refund of over payment to the previous administration that we have been paying back. And this is in three diﬀerent categories; ﬁrst is refund on Domestic Excess Crude –N509, 813,20.00, the second is N187, 836,410.00 while the third is N392, 885,383.00.

Now the commercial agricultural loans that were taken, which we are of course servicing monthly as part of the inherited liabilities is N41m.

So the total deductions taken at source is N2, 384,427,708.40. These are the liabilities. The net inﬂow from FAC therefore is N17, 270,334,411.62.

On the outﬂows, you have the banks, the payments which we are again servicing, contingent liabilities entered into by the previous administration, came to N1.993b. That is almost N2b went for servicing of bank loans entered into by the previous administration.

There was also the fast, like you know and we say this every month the previous administration did not pay certain deductions back to Federal Inland Revenue Service.

You know the tax administration system is such that when you collect federal taxes arising from contracts and other things, you remit.

We are now paying back every month what they should have paid, so we pay N200, 000,000 every month. That is standard until we clear the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 101 backlog.

Talking about salaries, you know we have all been working together on this subject maer, reducing the overhead cost and eliminating fraud in our payroll system.

You know the several steps we have taken, but this is work in progress.

Now when we started, our wage bill was close to N6b but with all that we have done together, we have been able to bring it down to, at least for the month of February, N3, 817, 632,116.00.

Now, let me be very frank with you, this is still way too high. And we are working hard as you all know to continuously monitor this.

Genuine civil servants will be paid, no problem. But the ghost names and all fraudulent and criminal things going on in the payroll system we will continue to ﬂush out and hold the culprits accountable to the law of the state.

And you all know that in this regard, we have even passed a payroll fraud law working with the House of Assembly. So all these are measures in addition to the public enlightenment going on and the veriﬁcation team that are working, going round visiting every ministry and making reports to me on a weekly basis.

We want to pay existing human beings salaries of civil servants not ghost names. We cannot continue to fund criminality and fraud and call it “carrying people along.” That is not the way we want to go.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 102 So for civil servants salaries, we spent N3, 817,632,116.00.

Now salaries of political appointees, my appointees came to N335, 202, 233.26.

The monthly overhead payment. Government is a massive bureaucracy and you know when we started, the overhead of Government House alone was almost N2b but you know the steps we have all taken to reduce that.

The overhead cost of running our government for the month of February is N1, 121, 133, 000.00. Again, this is an area that we should keep an eye on.

Now, Standing Approvals:

There are some statutory approvals that we make. The Commissioner of Finance can give further details on that. That came to N230m.

You are all aware that every month, as a result of our emphasis on prudence and to encourage the culture of saving for tomorrow because these oil wells will dry up one day, part of what we are doing is to put aside a portion of our earnings every month as it were, keep it aside for the rainy day and the House of Assembly, working with us, enacted the legislation.

So we have created an institutional framework that will support this even beyond the life of our government, that is the State Compulsory Savings Law. And in pursuance of that law, we set aside N250m in that account. You also know that our government inherited a massive backlog of unpaid pensions and gratuities of civil servants who have served and retired.

When I came and set up a commiee, the report was staggering. We needed about N3.5b, close to N4b to clear the backlog.

And this was incurred between 2007 till when we came in. It is very sad,

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 103 people served and retired and gratuity is not paid: a lot of them die while waiting for their gratuity, which is very unfortunate.

I use this opportunity to apologize to all those who are aﬀected, it should not have happened, it should not have been allowed to happen. It is a failure of leadership.

Arising from the outcome of that recommendation, what we have done is to every month religiously set aside the sum of N250m to service that liability.

I am pleased to report to you that the account today stands at N1, 25b. I have also set up a commiee chaired by the Head Of Service to commence the payment of the old gratuities aer veriﬁcation and I know that I have released about N1b to the commiee to undertake those liabilities.

Then Niger Delta University salary arrears: Our lecturers in NDU are doing well. We are paying them instalmentally because we do not want to owe people and you all know we do not even owe contractors in this state anymore.

So we are paying them N100m every month. As a result of these several transactions, the banks took N53m for COT charges. If you add up all of these and cross check with the January report that I gave, we had a balance of N17, 22, 000, 000.

Now if you check all the outflows that I gave earlier, you will have N8, 351,581,903.15. That is the outflows that I have enumerated. If you want to know all the money spent, you add the over N2b that was paid or deducted at source, and then you add the N8b and some fractions and then deduct it from the total sum that came, you will get the Gross Inflow.

Going forward, linking it with the previous brieﬁng, the actual recurrent payment that we made is N2.5b because of all these bills we

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 104 oﬀset.

The capital payments made to service the various contracts that we have, came to N10b and now the balance available for the month of February, if you add it up with the balance for the month of January is N19, 686,830,179.56.

Now the release from the oﬃce of the Accountant General of the state meant for the construction of the tourism Island payment, the ﬂyovers; N3b, was paid to Julius Berger. All of it is here.

Those who want to get details of this can do so and I will also call up the Commissioner for Finance to make some remarks and answer some of the questions that may arise.

We are doing this because as we have always said the cornerstone of any democracy is the right of the people to know and that is what we are fulﬁlling.

Let me go to the brieﬁng for the month of March.

For the month of March, the Statutory Allocation to the state was N2, 297,717,365.90.

Derivation reduced a lile, and we got N9, 454, 83, 256. 52.

VAT : N658, 230, 000, SUREP: N1, 68, 194, 562. 62. Now there was again another augmentation. So we got an augmentation of N10, 310, 264, 237.

There was no money from the Excess Crude Account for that month.

However we got an NNPC refund of N311, 669,296.40. In other words for the month of March, our Gross Inﬂow was N24, 100, 159, 145. 73.

Now again, for the month of March you go through the FAC deductions and all the Bond payments. The FAC deductions came to N2, 384, 000, 000. 00.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 105 The break down is there. Bond deduction, foreign loans, repayment to NNPC and FAC overpayment to previous administration.

And for the month of March, our salary obligation for civil servants was N3, 795, 483, 311. 55. Remember I authorized recruitment of science and computer teachers in this state, I think about 300 of them. I believe that accounts for the diﬀerence.

And we are going to do more. We have need for teachers in this state. You know we are also advertising for recruitment of engineers, surveyors etc.

What has happened in the state is that with our massive investment in infrastructure, the bureaucracy does not have the capacity to monitor and supervise these jobs going on in the state. So we have established a need and I have instructed the Head of Service and Civil Service Commission, so qualiﬁed graduates and those with relevant qualiﬁcations should apply.

I hope that process will be speedily completed. Now again, we paid the bank liabilities aer servicing the federation liabilities, bond and so on.

As a result of the local loans that were taken, we still paid N1.899b to service those liabilities.

I have told you how much we paid for salaries for the month of March. Political appointees N307m. Overhead was N1.121b, Standing Approvals N230m. Transfer to Strategic Savings Account of the state came up to N250m.

For the month of March, as we do every month, we transferred a minimum of N250m to save for the rainy day and for posterity.

Transfer to Land Acquisition Account N250m. For the month of March, I directed the Accountant Generalʹs oﬃce and the Ministry of Finance to establish a sub account that we will be transferring funds to, to pay for

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 106 acquisition of land.

We have a very ambitious programme of development and that means we are going to do a lot of acquisition. The Ministry of Lands and the State Capital Development Authority are going to do a lot of acquisition and we know that landowners in this state have a right to fair and adequate compensation.

And we have said they must receive their compensation unlike in the past where government will just make pronouncement and go into peopleʹs private properties without paying compensation.

We already have many cases like that. So we have directed the establishment of a special account, into which we will be making monthly contributions.

By the way, I have set up the Land Use and Allocation Commiee working with the Ministry of Lands and Survey, I expect them to use the proceeds of that account to pay compensation for any land that the government intends to use for our development.

So for that reason, we transferred N250m to that account. And again, the cost of IGR collection N80m. COT provisions N71m. Now the balance for March FAC including SUREP came to N18, 910, 942, 584. 75.

If you add up everything, the balance available to our state with all the payments we have made and we are not owing any contractor, came to N28, 972, 919, 215. 13. That is the balance standing to the credit of the government and people of Bayelsa State as at the end of March 2013.

I am sure in the next one or two weeks, we will be able to give the brieﬁng for the month of April. These brieﬁngs are made aer the receipt of accruals at the end of the month.

I want to thank you all for having faith in the government. As you are

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 107 aware, we have a very ambitious programme of development, of security and I am very pleased that we have the massive support, cooperation and solidarity of the government, leaders and the good people of this state.

We have transformed our state to be one of the safest havens for investment in this country. Now I want to publicly commend the workers in the public sector because it is not easy when you are dealing with a mindset that has been there for so long. I know that a number of people misunderstood me when I said that, in this state, part of the things we must get right is paying the regular and adequate tax as and when due.

We did not impose any new taxation policy. In consultation with the leadership of organized labor we discussed and said that the existing Personal Income Tax Act (PITA) of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is a federal enactment, should be applied and complied with in this state.

And I am pleased that with the cooperation of all workers in our public sector, our revenue that comes through tax has increased from a sum of less than N50m or so from when we took over to N300m on a monthly basis.

Now at the end of March period covered by this account, our PAYE report has a balance of N508m in it.

I have told the Ministry of Finance not to touch N1 out of that account yet because we want to use the tax that is paid to do things that those who are paying the tax will see the result themselves.

Part of what has happened in this country not just in this state, is a national disease. People hardly pay tax; they run away from tax responsibilities and that is what makes you a responsible citizen. Very soon, when we are through with this reform, in fact we will also think of

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 108 how to get the private sector people to pay their fair share of tax because we have the collective responsibility to develop this state for ourselves and for posterity.

Now our internal revenue has hit N1b every month. Let me tell you that we have just started. This is to put all citizens, corporate as well as individuals on notice.

As you know, we are working hard to promote a favorable environment for businesses to thrive; we want to create wealth and jobs; we want to work with everybody, but multinational corporations, individual business people who enjoy the beneﬁt of our investment in security, our investment in human capacity development, our massive investment in provision of health care, must contribute their own quota.

But I can assure you it will not be done arbitrarily. We have put in place mechanisms to ensure that everybody is carried along. As you know, I just reconstituted the board of Inland Revenue Service.

I have also just set up the Technical Commiee chaired by my Deputy Governor himself. That should underline the seriousness of this assignment because unless we are able to beef up our IGR such that it should be able to meet our recurrent liabilities as a state; unless we get to that point, we cannot be said to be independent.

We cannot project any sustainable development plans, we cannot as a state or even as a nation continue to build our hopes and plans and development on oil earnings that are based on variables that are beyond our control.

And that is why it is important that we all create a safe, stable and peaceful environment for businesses to thrive, for tourism to ﬂourish, so that people can live here and invest and then pay their fair share of taxes to us.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 109 But I assure you, with the mechanism we have put in place to ensure openness, transparency, and accountability all the taxes and so on will be judiciously and properly utilized.

We are going to embark on a programme of investing more in the public sector. We will soon open the Public Service Training Institute to ensure capacity building so that we can get the best from the public sector.

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to thank you all for your support. For those who are here for the ﬁrst time, like the crew from Channels, and like some of our friends here, let me use this opportunity to welcome you all to Bayelsa.

We call this place the Glory of All Lands and here we have a saying that, “all good human beings are Bayelsans, all good things start from Bayelsa”.

That is why the ﬁrst oil well was discovered in Bayelsa. Why we say so is because we want to work with everybody, all wellmeaning people in this country and outside this country.

We want to work together and make this place a haven of peace, prosperity and development. And it is to that new Bayelsa of endless potentials and possibilities, where we work with everybody, within and outside to make this place a haven of peace and prosperity that I invite you all to participate.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 110 AGENCIES SET UP TO DELIVER RESULTS

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 111 ACTUALIZING OUR DEVELOPMENTDRIVEN AGENDA

Remarks at the inauguration of board of the Bayelsa State construction & dredging company

his is the ﬁrst time we will be seing up a state construction company of this nature. And I donʹt think there are many states Tin this country that also have this concept, so itʹs another ﬁrst for us. That means a lot of the burden is on the shoulders of those to be given the responsibility to actualize the vision of our government in this direction.

You are all aware of the very ambitious development agenda of our government and we thought since much of our development cannot be driven by the state government alone, we will necessarily have to begin to lay the foundation, the groundwork, for eﬀective collaboration with the organised private sector. This model has worked in several other countries. The Asian Tigers; most of the companies from China are actually state companies, and I see no reason why our own state company cannot be a major construction company.

So this is the experiment and it will be the duty and responsibility of the chairman, the M.D and members of this board to actualize it.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 112 This company will function as a parastatal of the Ministry of Works. In addition to that, wherever there is any construction job that we as a government feel that this company should participate in just like we award contracts to other companies, we will also award contracts to this company. So it is the duty of this company to acquire the expertise in terms of personnel and machinery because my government intends to give you people a lot of responsibilities. Let it be said that when people are looking at roads and the other things they will say that this Bayelsa state company has done well. You have to function the way these other popular companies do. We know Rome was not built in a day. Now Rome is even too far; they say Dubai was not built in a day, I just returned from Dubai and DSP and others took me around a lile so a lot of things are coming.

We want Bayelsa to be the Dubai of Africa. And this company should be a major catalyst of that process. We took great care in selecting this board. You are to make proﬁt and at the end of the year declare dividend to the people of Bayelsa state. So this is an experiment. I have done my own and I will continue to stand by you and support you but the rest is le for you people to do. I donʹt expect politics on this board even though a number of you are political people; I expect you to work together as one board, one family.

The M.D is going to have the responsibility for running the daytoday activities, under the direction of the board. You are actually also in addition to what I have said the direct labour agency of the government. And we expect you when I give certain jobs, the aim may not be just to make money. We want to engage our boys and girls. We want you to play a role in developing critical middle level manpower and even very senior technical manpower and also to have a liaison and eﬀective relationship with the Niger Delta University. You can then provide the needed practical experience for our engineering students because you are going to be very busy constructing roads, constructing low cost houses. I know that your rates will be lower. You are the direct labour agency of our government.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 113 EDUCATION AS THE TOUCHSTONE OF OUR PROGRESS

Remarks on the occasion of the presentation of cheques for NECO and WAEC fees and inauguration of education inspection commission

here is no doubt that we have entered for the past one year a new phase in our quest to lay a solid foundation for our Tdevelopment and for our future, and that is why education continues to be a cornerstone of our Restoration Government and so will it be till the end of our stay in government. Because education is the most powerful tool for changing our society, we are determined to invest in it until we succeed in turning it around completely.

Part of the reason standards have gone down apart from insuﬃcient government aention and investment is the absence of reliable and credible inspectorate mechanisms and we want to address that.

Today we are formally presenting cheques totaling N301, 951, 000 to oﬀset the registration fee of all WAEC AND NECO candidates of Bayelsa, and for the supply of all science materials that are needed for the conduct of May/June WAEC and national technical examination. We are making this public presentation in addition to the several other

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 114 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON (L), PRESENTING A CHEQUE OF 312M, TO EDUCATION COMM. HON. SALO ADIKUMO (2ND L), & HIS PERM SEC, FOR THE PAYMENT OF NECOWAEC FEES FOR BYS SECONDARY STUDENTS

things we are doing quietly so that the teachers and principals and school administrators as well as parents and guardians and the general public will know that the government is commied to this sector. I donʹt want any guardian or parent to be cajoled by anybody to go and spend money and that is why we are doing this public presentation. I expect that the ministry of education and the various education oﬃcials will judiciously apply these funds. I expect that the students will also do their own part by working very hard, study hard to ensure that they come out with ﬂying colours. That is the only way they can justify the massive investment in this sector.

We have decided to set up a commiee that will interface with all critical sectors in education, teachers at all levels, principals, educational practitioners at all levels, administrators and non academic staﬀ. In those days we all remember when inspectors would come to school and everybody would sit up.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 115 Part of the reason standards have gone down apart from insuﬃcient government aention and investment is the absence of reliable and credible inspectorate mechanisms and we want to address that.

That is why we have set up a commiee which is actually made up of a lot of our partners who are the teachers and the headmasters as well as the Nigeria Union of Teachers that can now exercise an oversight on all our schools, on all our institutions. This government will rely on the outcome of your report; we expect you to work full time, nonstop. You are not just going to give us a report in terms of observance of policies, you are also going to let us know from time to time how the projects and the various contracts that have been awarded in the education sectors are implemented.

In one year alone, we have built 400 plus primary schools and quarters, and countless contracts have been awarded for secondary schools across the length and breadth of this state. Now we have awarded contracts for secondary schools, 25 of them, a lot of them boarding institutions.

Now we need to reboot the inspectorate division to support the work of the Ministry of Education and that is why we have come up with the commiee. I need to be briefed on the state of our infrastructure in secondary schools and the primary schools we need to reconstruct because there are primary schools we were unable to capture in this exercise. We need to know exactly what these communities need in order of preference. This is one commiee I will not allow to rest. Apart from infrastructural oversight, you have to inspect the schools to ensure that the teachers go to work and that the curriculum is right and that teachers are commied to do and have the skills to impart knowledge. The work of this commiee will also expose other problems we have not yet able to identify. It is from this work that we

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 116 will know what those problems are and perhaps reason together on how to solve them. That is why I deliberately made all the critical stakeholders to be in this commiee.

The Nigerian Union of Teachers is here because you are an umbrella association of teachers. The Association of Principals is also here.

So where Principals have challenges and issues on implementation of most our programmes and policies, we need to know through this commiee of which you are a part. Same for headmasters, we need to know what your views are on various issues.

So now with your inclusion in this commiee, you have again been given further stake in the formulation and execution of our policies and education.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 117 WE WILL NOT REST UNTIL WE CREATE JOBS

Remarks at the inauguration of the commiee on Youth Development And Empowerment

This inauguration represents a milestone in the determination of our government to expand the range of opportunities open to our teeming population of young, unemployed people in this state. One problem that this government and other governments in this region and in this country generally have is that of large number of unemployed people. This is why this administration has vowed to take steps to tackle this problem, but there is lile we can do however without ﬁrst gathering a reliable empirical data of the number of unemployed young people in this state. We as you all know are very serious about capacity building but you need to have the basis upon which you can move forward. You need to plan, you need to get data collated before you can go about implementation.

The inauguration of this commiee therefore signals the preparedness of this government to implement our various programmes aimed at creating employment and generally empowering our people, the young people in this state. We will not rest until we create jobs, build

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 118 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON AND MEMBERS OF THE STATE COMMITTEE ON ENTRPRENEURIAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT POSE AFTER THE INAUGURATION

skills and create wealth and give them a chance, for some of them a second chance, and that is why we are having appointees in this government that are vested with the responsibility of dealing with rehabilitation issues. You have all been carefully selected because of your official designations and responsibilities, to come together to first of all identify all the unemployed young people in this state. Let us know who they are and what they can do before we move to the next stage of offering them opportunities.

We have several opportunities in ICT Training; we are creating and establishing a sports academy that will also take a lot of young people. The various skills acquisition programmes will come on stream very soon. And there is a school established for vocational training, and this is also in addition to the robust policy and scholarship awards and grants. And for this year, we have announced scholarships for all postgraduate students in Bayelsa anywhere in Nigeria or outside. We have voted the sum of one billion naira for this project. But we know that it is not all young people that will take advantage of scholarships and grants. We also want to look for other ways of creating jobs, building skills, for these other categories of young people who strictly

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 119 speaking cannot ﬁt into the formal educational structure.

This commiee has been put together to enable us develop a database of all unemployed young people in this state. Let us also know the type of training they need, the opportunities and the various vocations and other interests that they have and then government will be beer advised to work with that data, to be able to give them skills, to be able to give them gainful and meaningful employment. This is why this interministerial commiee is set up.

The members of this commiee have already been announced. The two chairmen; the Hon. Commissioner for Youths and the Hon. Commissioner for manpower and employment will cochair this commiee. Then, the secretariat of this commiee will be domiciled with the Special Adviser Youth, Training and Mobilization Empowerment. We expect that as soon as possible you will swing into action so that all the teeming young people in Bayelsa as well as girls who are in need of training, who are in need of various skills can troop to that oﬃce to be registered and documented appropriately so that government can begin to swing into action to create jobs and give them opportunities.

That is why this government is developing the robust policy on expanding the base of our economy by focusing on tourism and focusing on agriculture. A number of them may also find formal places in the structure of government, a number may be taught different skills by which they will go into small and medium scale enterprises and again that is why we are working with various development partners and recently we signed an MOU with the Bank of Industry. A number will also be involved properly at the end of this exercise in assisting in the maintenance of law and order. We already have an outfit called Bayelsa Volunteers. So at the end of this exercise, we expect that those who will be part of that, who will be identified and screened by this commiee as fit and proper persons to assist in providing communal

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 120 intelligence, will also be sorted out and then put in that structure.

The commiee is an ad hoc one but we will give you enough time because the job is very serious. How well this government will perform in the area of job creation, in the area of creating skills depends in a large part on this commiee but we donʹt want to rush into programmes. And that is why we want ﬁrst to have data. That way we will be able to have a benchmark on our achievements so that we can determine how far we can go and what is le to be done.

Gentlemen I want to welcome you onboard, it is a very special, very important commiee. You have my support all the way through and I like to give you people in the ﬁrst instance one month to be able to do this very serious assignment. I expect that your report will also help us in identifying who the persons actually are, which community they are from, which local governments they are from, how do we contact them, who are their guarantors, how do we reach them, people who can come and sign on their behalf and things like that. We want to have a total picture, develop a robust data bank that will help us going forward.

I like to thank all of you and congratulate you because you have my support. I am myself an oﬃcial part of this commiee because of the importance aached to it. So donʹt be surprised if in the course of your work you see me there a couple of times to know how you people are doing. Let me use this opportunity to call on all our teeming unemployed young people, boys as well as girls, to take advantage of this opportunity to come out, interact with this commiee, visit the secretariat and document yourself. Your government is there for you, your government cares for you, your government wants the best for you. We are creating institutions. There is a school to be set up for tourism and hotel management. We want people to come in identify their interest and then be part of the legitimate economy of the state.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 121 RETIREES MUST GET THEIR DUE

Address at the inauguration of the Pensions and Gratuity commiee on May 31, 2012.

he public service is critical to service delivery and we are commied to everything that is necessary and proper in terms Tof assisting it to be at its optimal performance. And that is why we have put together this commiee to look into the reasons why over the past couple of years this state has joined, unfortunately, the list of states that are unable to meet their obligations to retiring public oﬃcers. That is not good for the morale of the public service and that is not good for optimal performance that we expect from the public service.

We are doing this to let the civil servants in this state know that we mean well for them. As I have said time and time again, we will not triﬂe with their welfare, just as we will insist on the best from them.

Happily, the chairman and members of this commiee are very experienced, tested and seasoned public servants, some of them still serving and who know the problems of this sector. We do not want a

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 122 BAYELSA STATE GOV. HON. SERIAKE DICKSON AND HIS DEP. REAR ADMIRAL GBORIBIOGHYA JON JONAH POSE WITH MEMBERS OF THE PENSION AND GRATUITY COMMITTEE situation where people serve the state with all their lives and when they retire they are not sure of when they will get their gratuities.

I am told that there are people, even permanent secretaries unfortunately who these days retire without receiving their gratuities, civil servants who aer serving thirtyﬁve years and retiring, do not receive their pension until they die. This is not acceptable.

So we want to bring an end to this disturbing trend. We intend to work with the report of the commiee and see how government can clear the backlog. This is to enable us go back to the ideal state of aﬀairs which is that, before a public oﬃcer retires, he or she is sure of at least receiving the gratuity.

So this commiee has been put together to look into the situation and advise us on the way forward with the following speciﬁc terms of reference:

1. You are to identify the actual amount of the backlog of arrears and cause of delay of the payment of gratuities.

2. You are to ascertain the exact number of pensioners being owed their gratuities.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 123 3. You are to advise government on the modalities for the payment of the backlog.

4. You are to advise government on the modalities for prompt payment of gratuities and ways to avert any future backlog.

5. You are also to undertake a veriﬁcation to identify the best practices that have been observed in the compilation of the list of those said to have retired or who are due for gratuity payments.

6. Generally, you are to look at any other maers concerning the payment of gratuity and pension that government needs to address.

We want to begin the process of paying oﬀ the backlog of all the accumulated gratuities and pensions that are due our hard working civil servants in the state.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 124 AGRICULTURE MUST DRIVE OUR DEVELOPMENT

Address at the inauguration of 12member board of the Bayelsa state agricultural development company on October 16, 2012

e are here to formally inaugurate the board of the Bayelsa State Agricultural Company Limited, which is one of the Wcompanies this government incorporated in our aempt to expand the base of our economy beyond oil.

As you all know, agriculture is very dear to us in the restoration agenda because we are keen to provide an alternative base of our economy beyond oil in two critical ways: promoting tourism and encouraging investments generally and then more speciﬁcally investing in agriculture.

Even before the discovery of crude oil, this area was known as the Oil Rivers Protectorate. The oil that people talked about was not crude oil at the time but palm kernel oil and the various derivatives.

There are countries that live up till now wholly on palm oil and so this is a way of sounding a clarion call to all our people and indeed for all levels of government in Bayelsa to go back to the foundation and the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 125 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON POSE WITH MEMBERS OF THE NEWLY INAUGURATED 12 MEMBER BOARD OF THE STATE AGRICULTURAL DEV. COMPANY LTD.

foundation is agriculture.

Yesterday, I witnessed the signing of an historic agreement between this company backed by the government of Bayelsa State and some foreign technical partners, by which very soon you will all see the existence of the biggest cassava plantation in this country here in Bayelsa State.

A number of people do not know that we have vast arable land that can support massive investments in agriculture. When a lot of people hear about Bayelsa state, they only think of oil and nothing more. They forget that we are actually an agrarian people.

We are engaged in ﬁshing which is part of engagement in agriculture and have large expanse of land that can support investments in agriculture. We are serious about turning around this state to become number one in agriculture once again and this is a practical move in that direction.

As I said earlier, very soon a 300hectare cassava farm will spring up complete with the processing plant that will process the cassava both for local consumption and use and principally for export. We are also

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 126 going into massive production of plantain. This is the headquarters of plantain for Godʹs sake.

Our plantain, banana and rice are second to none. So for us investing massively in rice production is something we must do and in the shortest possible time. I will like this board to develop a blueprint on how we can go into massive food production especially rice, banana and even livestock.

In the next one year, we intend to let everybody in this country know that when you are talking about agriculture in Nigeria, Bayelsa is the place to go and that is our objective. And that was what informed the incorporation of this company.

When a lot of people hear about Bayelsa state, they only think of oil and nothing more. They forget that we are actually an agrarian people.

We will also like to have a number of subsidiaries of the company and part of what we expect the board and management of this company to do is not just to drive farming, but you are also to devise a way by which we can create capacity to store, process and export our produce because you are going to be involved in the entire value chain business of it.

In the next one year, I want to see the largest ﬁsh farms in Bayelsa state. Unless we do that we would not be able to reach and showcase our potential.

Now Bayelsa has a government that understands that priority must be given to agriculture and food production not just for purposes of securing our food suﬃciency but to enable us use agriculture as a tool for creating jobs for our people and also earning foreign exchange.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 127 And that is why we are passionate about having an airport: we want to open up this place to the country and the rest of the world. And most of what you are going to produce and the bulk of what will be processed, would be exported directly from our airport.

I will meet with members of the board on the design of a large warehouse that is second to none, located by the airport. Members of the board will be working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, which is going to oversee the board, work out the channels to get certiﬁcation from international bodies and countries where we intend to export our produce.

I am planning a trip to Israel, Thailand and Vietnam to see their farms and get technical partners and establish the structures here. I also want to see proposals on how we can have storage facilities in places like Brass, Nembe and Ekeremor where a lot of ﬁshing takes place. We actually intend to encourage more ﬁshing in such areas.

In fact every local government area should have a storage facility because the board is expected to support the company and its subsidiaries to buy produce from farmers at reasonable and competitive prices.

You have all been carefully selected and if there is one company that I will keenly monitor, in terms of what they do almost on a daily basis, to see what can be done beer, this is it.

If this company succeeds the way we think it should, then we would have succeeded in producing food for our people, creating wealth and jobs. I want to see Peremabiri, Abobiri and Isampou Rice Farms take oﬀ; I canʹt wait to see an equivalent of the Songhai Farms replicated here; I canʹt wait to see Dr. Ebinimi Ansa supervise a major ﬁsh farm project here.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 128 Now Bayelsa has a government that understands that priority must be given to agriculture and food production not just for purposes of securing our food suﬃciency but to enable us use agriculture as a tool for creating jobs for our people and also earning foreign exchange.

The biggest ﬁsh farm should be found in Bayelsa and nowhere else. That is our dream and that is what is good enough for this state. Let me assure you of our support because this company is very precious to us. If we succeed with this company then we have succeeded in a lot of ways.

A lot of time has been wasted, a lot of dillydallying. Up till now we donʹt have a good place where we can train our young farmers, we donʹt even have a ﬁsh farm to show to people and yet we are ﬁshermen.

So I want you as quickly as possible get cracking because funds have been provided for you to work with and I will like to meet with you to discuss concrete proposals. We will even be willing to talk to private ﬁnanciers because if agricultural proposals are well thought out, they should as commercial ventures, ﬂy on their own.

Going forward, we want to see major farms in almost every local government area. The Commissioner for Agriculture already knows our direction, and he is going to brief you because his Ministry is going to supervise your activities.

This company has to be run essentially as a business enterprise; it just happens to be owned by government and it has to make commercially viable decisions and commercial investments. The government aspect of it arises when we meet and then see how we can create jobs.

This company will be part of what will form the subsidiary of the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 129 Bayelsa State Development Corporation and the chairman is expected to sit on that board because of the importance we aach to this company. We will also make some appointments in the various subsidiaries but all of them will report to this board and would be overseen by this board.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 130 WE HAVE RESTORED PURPOSE TO GOVERNMENT

Address at the inauguration of the State Empowerment and Expenditure for Result Projects, (SEEFOR) commiee on November 6, 2012

t is with great pleasure and delight that I inaugurate this SEEFOR commiee, which is to oversee the implementation of the State IEmpowerment and Expenditure For Result Projects ﬁnanced by the World Bank. As part of our restoration agenda, there has been a lot of conﬁdence building. This is why a lot of international donors and agencies, are more than ever before willing to come and invest and partner with us in moving the state forward.

The willingness of the World Bank to assist the state is therefore a demonstration of this conﬁdence. Through the SEEFOR project, the World Bank is expected to assist this state which with grants from the European Union makes a total investment of 57.74 million US dollars for a period of 5 years.

The state government has approved 150 million naira as counterpart fund for this project for the 2012 ﬁscal year as a demonstration of our resolve. The commiee overseeing this project will convene every quarter to do the following:

1. To review the implementation of the components of this programme

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 131 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON POSED WITH MEMBERS OF THE NEWLY INAUGURATED EMPOWERMENT AND EXPENDITURE FOR RESULT PROJECT.

and forward its analysis and conclusions to the National Project Coordinating Unit.

2. Approve the annual work plans, budget and procurement plans for the state project.

3. Ensure that the agreed performance and timelines for state projects are met.

4. Address critical issues that could hinder the implementation of the project commiee in this state. Again they are to track performance progressively using approved key performance indicators for these key result areas.

You are also to ensure eﬀective communication and access to information and lastly they are to monitor feedback and grievance redress mechanisms. It is important to note at this juncture that the commiee would not be involved in the day to day management of this project but will provide a strategic guideline and monitoring mechanism to the project team.

It is instructive to note that the objectives of this project are very much in line with the aspiration and targets we have set for ourselves as an administration. It is therefore my pleasure to inaugurate you.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 132 MY MESSAGE TO ALL BAYELSANS: NONE BUT OURSELVES

Address at the inauguration of the Bayelsa State commiee on entrepreneurial capacity development on December 7, 2012.

We have said time and time again that we can not develop unless the average youth and average woman and the average Bayelsan generally has acquired the capacity to live life to its fullest. And we want to address particularly the economic empowerment of our people by the creation of this commiee.

I am aware that most of the people appointed were selected just for this programme. A number of you were not appointed for political considerations. We have a Senior Special Assistant, Youth Development and that of Women Development.

There is no way we will allow our youths and women to be available and willing tools to achieve blatantly political or nefarious ends. If we give them the skills that they need, the skills that will give them independence of thought and of action, we will be building a stable and prosperous Bayelsa State. We want to put to an end to a situation where our youths are only remembered during elections. We want our women and youths to be remembered at all times.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 133 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON AND MEMBERS OF THE STATE COMMITTEE ON ENTRPRENEURIAL CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT POSE AFTER THE INAUGURATION

This commiee is the ﬁrst major step to demonstrate our determination to assist them get on their feet. There is no government, no maer how well intentioned, no maer the resources at its disposal, that can pay school fees for all the children in the state. No government can pay house rent for everybody in the state. No government can pay hotel bills, hospital bills, buy cars and build houses for everybody.

What a reasonable government can do, which we are doing, is to develop a framework for engaging our people, for the training and enlightenment of our people. A framework that will also enable them tap into the available resources within and outside the system. You have seen a short while ago, how we demonstrated this by the presentation of a one billion Naira dra to the Bank of Industry.

Under this collaboration, we will have N2 billion available for the empowerment of the people of this state. We have made our own ﬁy percent contribution and the Bank of Industry also is expected to match that contribution towards developing a pool of two billion Naira which would be used primarily for training of our people to acquire entrepreneurial skills and seing them up in various skills and businesses.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 134 And this is going to be a challenging responsibility because the prevailing aitude is not in support of entrepreneurship. The prevailing mental aitude is one of complacency; is one of servitude; itʹs an aitude that holds everybody responsible for the lives of everybody.

Itʹs an aitude where our people, the young ones particularly, do not take responsibility for their own lives. They marry and have children but they donʹt prepare for the consequences and responsibilities that life throws at every living human being.

You can build all the roads, you can do everything, but any time they get hungry, they look for scapegoats; any time their rents are due they look for people to abuse and they thereby become willing tools to be used by desperate politicians.

Now while we preach zero tolerance to crime and criminality, while we are willing to apply the law, we shall continue to do that without fear or favour to help people to be economically independent. It is sad that everything we consume in this state is brought in from outside the state. Apart from the loss of taxable revenue, you all saw what happened when the ﬂood cut oﬀ the EastWest road; we didnʹt have anything to live on. Simple things like eggs, sachet water come from outside the state.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 135 At the capacity building level we donʹt have artisans, the vulcanisers, mechanics, bricklayers and carpenters that are important for keeping the economy going. I doubt if we have up to even 5% of the number of these artisans contributing to the economy of this state.

The picture I have painted which you all know shows that we are not yet serious, we are not in control of our economy and that is not good enough for this state.

We want to take charge of our economy and of our lives and by this programme we will help the young people of this state to get on their feet and take responsibility for their lives.

They should take responsibility for their children and wives and house rents because that is what responsible adulthood entails. Iʹm not one to ﬂaer anyone on these issues. We have to face the truth as it is. I know that there are a number of people out there who for several reasons will incite jobless youths to say terrible things about people who are trying their best or to do senseless things and get them to feel that government at every level has not done enough about their empowerment.

The truth must be told which is that the only culture that we know in this state is the culture of begging among most of our youths and the culture of giving handouts by the elites. The elites have not been helpful in this maer; they would rather allow the youths to roam around without skills, moral support and encouragement. This is because they want a ready army to be used to misinform and create crisis. This is the reason why we are seing up this commiee because we want a grassroots approach to the problem of job creation and wealth generation. There are so many stories told of billionaires today both within and outside this country who started business with less than one

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 136 million Naira.

Members of this commiee have been carefully selected; you have representatives from all parts of our society. A number of you have speciﬁc skills which are germane to the issue of empowerment.

Your responsibility is to turn our jobless youths and our helpless women into an army of conﬁdent employers of labour so that we can all say goodbye to the days of “Iʹm loyal sir” in this state.

Iʹm not saying we should not give handouts or you should not ask for handouts. Iʹm saying that itʹs not an Ijaw culture to live on handouts when you are an ablebodied man or woman and when you can do something to change your life and contribute to the development of your society.

It is on this note that I hereby inaugurate this commiee, the Bayelsa State Commiee on Entrepreneurial Capacity Development targeted particularly at women and youths with a mandate to identify women and youths who can be trained to manage businesses on their own. It will be the responsibility of this commiee working with the appropriate agencies to see how it can also instill a culture of discipline, in terms of paying back facilities.

Let me say this clearly: this is not politics. This is a very serious issue of development and I will not tolerate the situation whereby anybody involved in the selection of beneﬁciaries under this programme plays politics with it. This programme is for all Bayelsans. It is not for supporters of any candidate or political party.

More women should beneﬁt from this programme. I want to see a minimum of 70% for women. So I want the commiee to select the women and youths dispassionately not based on any political consideration. If any beneﬁciary under this programme wants to play pranks, I will also not hesitate in using the available resources of

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 137 government to be part of any recovery eﬀort.

Any beneficiary who treats this money as government largesse is in trouble with us because you will not ʹchopʹ that money and live in peace. I will look for you and deal with you according to the law because this money is seed money that is meant to grow so that other people can benefit. When the commiee finishes its work and I have the list of the beneficiaries and unknown to members of the commiee, I will set the security people on the beneficiaries and ensure that we monitor what you do with the money.

And anybody who does not pay back and anybody who takes the money to go and buy wrapper at Aba market and tie and make ʹyangaʹ; or takes the money to go and marry new wife; or uses our money to go and buy vehicles and becomes the next big man on the streets of Yenagoa; we will catch you and you will pay for it and you will also pay for the cost of making you to pay back.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 138 CHARGE TO NIGER DELTA UNIVERSITY: BE THE BEST

Address at the inauguration of the governing council of the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, in Bayelsa State, on December 11, 2012.

want to welcome you to this very brief but signiﬁcant historic ceremony, which is the inauguration of the Governing Council of Iour only stateowned university, appropriately named the Niger Delta University, because we are at the centre of gravity of the Niger Delta.

I want to on behalf of the Government and people of Bayelsa State, congratulate the ProChancellor designate and other distinguished members of Council that are about to be inaugurated for their well deserved nominations and appointments. These appointments were carefully made.

As you may recall, this government had set up a visitation panel, the ﬁrst of such panels since the establishment of this university, some years back. We have received the report, which has clearly highlighted several problems and also pointed out the potentials of our university. So we decided to carefully select persons not only of proven integrity but patriotism and commitment for the most challenging responsibility

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 139 GOVERNOR SERIAKE DICKSON POSE WITH THE NEWLY INAUGURATED MEMBERS OF THE GOVERNING COUNCIL OF NIGER DELTA UNIVERSITY

of our time, which is the challenge of manpower development.

We have also taken into cognizance, their backgrounds and experiences in this very specialized area. As you all know, our ProChancellor designate was the one who set up what Chief Melford Okilo at the time, called our “Potopoto” school, which is now the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. And if it wasnʹt for what they did, a large number of us, myself inclusive and I can see several of my commissioners nodding in agreement, we would not be where we are today.

And let me therefore pay ﬁing tribute to the man who saw the need to establish this university, the ﬁrst Executive Governor of Bayelsa State, His Excellency, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha and those who served in that team.

And today, we are assembled because the time has come to build on that foundation. Our vision for the Niger Delta University is for it to become a worldclass institution of learning.

And one of the members of my team, who incidentally taught me in my primary school and my aunt also, rightly referred to that university as

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 140 “our foremost human resource production factory” and that is what it is. We want to take it to the next level.

The charge therefore, to members of the council is to come up with the right policies and programmes that will ensure that in no distant time, with the support and backing of this government, the Niger Delta University will become one of the best universities in this country.

Being one of the best universities in Nigeria is not our ultimate ambition for the Niger Delta University; we would like it to be one of the best universities in the world.

You will say that is a very tall dream but that is what restoration is all about.

I therefore direct the Secretary to Government and the Ministry of Education to make available to the Council, the ﬁndings and recommendations of the Visitation Panel. I have gone through the executive summary for work that was painstakingly done and I like to also use this opportunity to thank our brothers and sisters who were called upon to do that job.

As a maer of fact I have directed the inclusion of the Chairman of that Panel in the Council. Iʹm aware that by the rules, we are enlarging the membership. I will sign into law, a bill that will accommodate this expansion.

I like to call on Chairman and ProChancellor and members of Council to live up to the very high expectations that we all have of you. Turn that university around and also examine ways by which the university can

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 141 exercise autonomy as an institution of learning and research. We will like the university to be autonomous in a lot of ways, not only in ﬁnancial and administrative maers.

I will like the university to see how it can be run like most other universities without much governmentʹs support. I know we may not get there in the immediate but I think that it should be part of the long term ambition for it to be truly sustainable.

As it is, any drop or shortfall in the stateʹs revenues will also aﬀect our plans and projections for that university which I donʹt think is good enough going forward. On our own part, I will like the university to play more critical roles particularly in rendering consultancy services to the state government and its agencies and parastatals.

I will like the departments of the university to be supported that way with lots of consultants and let me also use this opportunity to call on members of the Executive Council who have need for consultancy services to begin to look inwards.

I will need to get the various departments of the faculties of the university to do consultancy services and earn income thereby. By so doing they will be earning money and most importantly, they will also be developing their skills, which is what the university is there to render in the ﬁrst place. That to me is a more realistic and sustainable approach to funding of our tertiary institution.

From the report on the university, that you will soon read, the institution is in a situation where you have a lot of staﬀ that you donʹt really need. Perhaps the reason is that, the university employs but the university does not pay and then the burden is passed on to the state.

We will all look for ways of engaging people whose services are not needed in the public service. There is a major reform coming and the university will not be le out.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 142 BOOSTING TOURISM

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 143 BAYELSA NOW THE PLACE TO BE

AMAA awards fundraising dinner in Abuja on April 20, 2013

n behalf of the government and the good people of this great state, I have the honour and privilege to welcome you all to Othis 9TH edition of the Africa Movie Academy Awards (AMAA), holding here in Yenagoa, the state capital of our dear state, that we call the Glory of All Lands.

I am elated as everyone else at this event tonight. In our new Bayelsa, we have a popular saying, that every good human being in our midst is a good Bayelsan. You are all wonderful people assembled here tonight and you are all therefore quintessentially Bayelsans. Beyond the glamour and fun of this event, it should remind us of the importance of AMAA as a brand for projecting our potentials in tourism and the entertainment industry.

My government is serious about broadening the economic base of our state beyond oil and gas by investing consciously in tourism, agriculture and manufacturing. This event is one clear way of

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 144 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON (L) PRESENTING SILVERBIRD UNIQUE PERSONALITY AWARDS TO MRS. OMOTOLA JALADE EKEINDE(C) DURING AMAA, WHILE THE CHAIRMAN SILVERBIRD GROUP, MR BEN MURRAYBRUCE (R) LOOKS ON preparing our dear state for life without oil, which is inevitable. In that regard we are working on several projects aimed at maximizing our tourism potentials.

We are working for example, on a PGA rated Golf Course where major tournaments will be sponsored. We are constructing a world class Polo facility. We are investing in several highclass hotels, cinemas and other entertainment facilities in this state. Some of these projects will be completed this year.

As a result of the expected boom in the tourism and entertainment industry in this great state, we are also collaborating on the building of an airport, which has already started so when you are coming to Bayelsa you will not go through these hassles again.

We are also training middle level manpower in the tourism industry. We have established a tourism and entertainment training school and I believe that the school will start by September. We have also undertaken a review of all the tourist sites in our state and these facilities are being upgraded for preservation. Before the end of this year, visitors to our state will experience these additional beneﬁts.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 145 For those who have gone round, you would have seen the massive investments we are making in infrastructure. We are not deterred by the astronomical cost of road construction in our very diﬃcult terrain because we believe that those who are visiting; those that will be aracted to invest here deserve worldclass facilities.

In the course of events leading to the AMAA Award tonight, I had cause to lay the foundation stone for the construction of the Yenagoa Film and Entertainment City which will serve as a catalyst for producing and promoting ﬁlms and cinema, train practitioners and equip them with facilities that will project our culture as well as market our state and our nation and continent.

We are determined to project Bayelsa as a major tourism and investment destination and haven.

I want to therefore, urge the young people of this state, the Niger Delta and indeed the people of our great country to take advantage of the facilities that will be provided in that ﬁlm city.

As our own way of supporting and recognizing the contributions of Nollywood, we will also make available plots of land to deserving Nollywood stars who will be required to develop beﬁing residential accommodation and live here in Yenagoa so that the Film and Entertainment City will become like the Beverly Hills of Nigeria and Africa.

My dear brothers and sisters, you have all witnessed, not just the ambitious development projects going on in an accelerated pace. You have also witnessed the serenity and security that the new Bayelsa oﬀers investors, tourists and indeed all visitors.

With the support of the citizenry and the active collaboration of the law

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 146 enforcement agencies, our government has put in place, a robust security infrastructure such that Bayelsa, within the past one year that I have been in oﬃce, is now being rated as one of the most peaceful and secure state in the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

We have Operation Doo Akpor, which translated, means, “Operation Peace”. That outfit is made up of officers and men who are specially trained, equipped and motivated to provide efficient and civil and professional services to all our people round the clock. Consequently, nightlife has since returned to Yenagoa and we have succeeded in providing security for all households, businesses and persons in Yenagoa; even with all this, we are investing more.

In the next couple of months, our programme of electronic surveillance probably the ﬁrst that will be rolled out by any state in this country will be activated.

With all these investments in security and tourism, our dream is to package Bayelsa as a foremost tourism and investment destination. We are open to the private sector in developing our tourism potentials. Let me therefore use this opportunity to invite all of you investors to partner with us to take advantage of our numerous opportunities in the tourism sector.

We thank all former governors of Bayelsa for collaborating to sustain this relationship with AMAA. Let me use this opportunity also to express our gratitude and appreciation to our President who as you all know is doing a wonderful job and especially for the initiative in making a trust fund available for the development of the movie and entertainment industry.

Tonight, I like to announce the establishment of the Bayelsa Indigenous Movie Trust Fund with an initial donation of the sum of N250 million. This fund is dedicated to the use and development of our budding talents and I will make appointments of people from within and

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 147 outside the state who will manage the fund and it will not be governmentcontrolled.

There is no doubt that entertainment and Nollywood in particular in this country is a major employer of labour and a medium for cross cultural exchange as well as a tool for branding our country and continent.

To underscore how our country has come of age, one of our own, Omotola Jalade Ekeinde has just been named as one of the one hundred most influential personalities in the world by an equally influential medium, TIME Magazine. I like to congratulate you all, Nollywood practitioners for this feat. This is a stamp of approval and confidence in the movie industry in this country. And I know that in no distant time, there will be many more such influential endorsements, awards and recognitions for others who are equally deserving.

As you are all gathered here tonight, I enjoin you all to relax and enjoy the hospitality that our new Bayelsa oﬀers us all. As you go back to your various destinations, I urge you all to spread the gospel of the new Bayelsa and spread the story of our endless potentials and possibilities as well as the determination of our government to make a diﬀerence.

For the nominees and winners tonight, let me on behalf of government and the good people of this state, congratulate you all and I like to also commend the organizers who worked within a very short time frame to put this together. I like to thank the captains of industry who invested their resources by donating generously to fund this event.

And I have said that from now on, AMAA in this state will be a private sector enterprise. To this end, let me also appreciate the chairman of the Fund Raising Dinner, Alhaji Sayu Dantata and all those who gave generously, who are too numerous to mention. And very soon, you will get our leer of appreciation. For those who still desire to donate, our doors or do I say our pockets as well are still open. I thank the wife of

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 148 President, Dame Patience Jonathan as well as the wife of the Vice President, Hajiya Amina Sambo and all those on the First Ladyʹs entourage to the fund raising dinner. I specially thank the family of the President of Malawi for taking time to be with us tonight. Let me also express our profound appreciation and the fatherly support that we have always enjoyed from the President of the Republic of South Africa, Jacob Zuma. We pray that God will grant you all journey mercies to your various destinations. Once again, let me thank you all for gracing this event tonight and please share in the fun and every moment of the goodness of AMAA 2013 and I invite you all to partake in the possibilities of the new Bayelsa.

Beyond the glamour is the essential value of AMAA which has in the last nine years made Bayelsa State the traditional home of the awards and indeed demonstrated our shared interest in the greater good accruable to AMAA in the future.

In this regard, I want to appreciate the initiators of this idea, the AMAA Annual Awards, for their vision, tenacity and commitment so far and I can only admonish everyone involved never to rest on their oars. There is so much to come and I can assure you all that the Bayelsa State Government will remain a dependable ally in the promotion and development of the African Movie Academy Awards.

As you must have realized, this yearʹs edition of AMAA has a signiﬁcant input of the private sector and I believe this is the way forward. I want to note here that AMAA has now goen to a stage where there is the need for massive injection of greater creativity and ideas to li the awards to the desired height continentally and even globally. A major issue in this regard is funding and through the fund raising we held for this edition, we could see that the involvement of the private sector will go a long way in meeting the loy ideals for which AMAA was founded. AMAA has now come a long way and it is time to give it the necessary ﬁllip to elevate the brand to become Africaʹs

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 149 OSCAR to the world. On our part, the Bayelsa State Government will continue to support and leverage the AMAA brand as a strategic platform to drive the stateʹs tourism potentials and promote our rich culture. We are steadily investing in tourism to make Bayelsa State a tourism destination of choice in the nearest future.

We want to really thank all those who participated at the fund raising for their generous donations. We would continue to be in the fore front of this kind of partnership and I am convinced beyond doubt that such relationship can only help to expand the scope and value of the awards in the future, giving it the right visibility, popularity and acceptability across board. This is critical in properly branding AMAA as a global brand from the African continent.

I believe that when we have this kind of class and clout for the awards, it will also rub oﬀ on the quality and creativity in the industry which is a good thing.

Already, African films are well accepted in many homes and NOLLYWOOD in particular is a favourite, globally accepted in spite of the technical challenges of production and other limitations. We can overcome some of these challenges when there is massive injection of funds to develop and promote ideas, talents, skills and creativity in the industry. Just two days ago, our own Omotola JoladeEkeinde (Omo Sexy) was named as one of the 100 Most Influential Personalities in the world by the equally influential TIME Magazine. This tells me that something greater could come out of NOLLYWOOD beyond the current exciting development in the film industry in Nigeria and Africa which we are celebrating here tonight. There is more to come but we must work for it by sharing roles and networking for overall development.

To all the nominees gathered here tonight, I wish you all good luck and those who eventually emerge as winners should endeavor to keep up the good work.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 150 BAYELSA THE BEAUTIFUL

A speech at the 2013 speech edition of the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria Award

n behalf of the Government and good people of Bayelsa State, the glory of all lands and Jerusalem of the Ijaw nation, I Owelcome you all the organizers, contestants and invited guests and friends of Bayelsa to this event, which is the ﬁrst of its kind in our great state. I want to thank the organizer, Silverbird Group for collaborating with the state government to host the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant here in Yenagoa.

Silverbird Group, pioneers of showbusiness promotion in Nigeria, is one of the ﬁnest in the world. They are wonderful ambassadors of our great state and country and have over the decades demonstrated the quintessential resilience as well as other unique positive aributes of Bayelsans!

This evening, I want to specially pay tribute to Ben Murray Bruce, His brother, Guy and the entire Silverbird group for this pioneering spirit of excellence which is typical of Bayelsans. I like to commend the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 151 GOV.SERIAKE DICKSON CONGRATULATES WINNER OF THE 26TH EDITION OF MBGN MISS, ANNA EBIERE BANNER OF BAYELSA STATE.

dedication of our young contestants, who have been in Bayelsa for the past two weeks. You have been in Bayelsa for this long visiting historical sites such as the ﬁrst oil well at Oloibiri, the White Manʹs grave at Akassa and other tourism sites which showcase the unrivalled beauty of our state and the spirit of its people.

Just a few days ago, you joined me on a historic “Run for Life” programme designed to promote HIV/AIDS awareness as well as to promote a healthy life style amongst our people. You were also with me at our monthly transparency brieﬁng, a programme designed to give our people an account of our ﬁnancial stewardship.

In these past two weeks, these ladies have not only proved to be true representatives of their families and worthy ambassadors of their respective states, they have also espoused the iconic virtues of true African womanhood. Once more, I welcome you to this event your event. Like every other contest, only one winner will emerge. We trust in the impartiality of the panel of judges, painstakingly selected for tonight. For us, all of you contestants are winners. Indeed, you are all

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 152 very beautiful and elegant ladies in your own right, representing the best of mother Africa.

Silverbird Group has produced several winners who have represented Nigeria with outstanding results. One of them, Agbani Darego, a proud daughter of Ijaw land went further to become Miss World. I hope that the winner of this event will follow the same trajectory.

Events such as the most beautiful girl in Nigeria pageant help to serve as a veritable platform for promoting tourism because we are serious about broadening the base of our economy beyond oil and gas.

Our objective is to make Bayelsa the tourism destination of our nation and continent at large. Accordingly, we have developed a tourism calendar, which will be unveiled to members of the investing public, investors and tourists from across the globe.

As you all are aware, the New Bayelsa has become one of the safest places you can be. For us, your security and well being is our priority. This event will take place annually. Since it is the ﬁrst of its kind in the state, the winner will in addition to what the organizers have packaged for her be a cultural ambassador of Bayelsa State and my Honorary Special Assistant on Culture and Tourism.

In September this year, the State will host the centenary pageant. Let me assure you that Bayelsa is safe. Bayelsa is ready for investment and tourism.

Distinguished Ladies and gentlemen, Your Excellencies, welcome to Bayelsa and let the show begin!

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 153 AN ĲAW RESTORATION

Remarks at the inauguration of the newly elected Ijaw National Congress (I.N.C) Executive Council

Let me congratulate our brand new president of the Ijaw National Congress, the very distinguished and eminent Senator Tari. J. Sekibo Oduabaji and members of his executive council on their resounding victory at the recent elections.

I like to also use this opportunity to formally thank the chairman and members of the exco and then my brother in whom we are very pleased, the former acting president who worked tirelessly with the various leaders of the zones and chairmen of various commiees and leaders and traditional rulers, the chairman and secretary and all of you who worked tirelessly to ensure that this process ended without acrimony.

I think we have produced an elected leadership taking over from one set of leaders without acrimony and following the provisions of our constitution. I want to congratulate all of you. I want to commend the selﬂess dedication of all of you for the various roles and parts you played. I want to also thank the understanding of all the delegates who

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 155 LR; GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON, THEN PRESIDENT, INC, LATE CHIEF(SEN.) TARI SEKIBO, AND ELDER STATESMAN, CHIEF EDWIN CLARK @ THE INAUGURATION OF THE NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COUNCIL OF THE INC, IN YENAGOA.

came from far and near even from outside of this country to participate in our renewal process.

Now, the way forward. We have a lot to say to each other. We have a lot to consult about and most importantly we have a lot to tell the rest of this country and everybody else. You are all aware of where we stand in Ijaw National Congress, you are all aware that this government is I.N.C government; this government is your government.

This government will continue to stand by what is in the Ijaw fundamental national interest.

And also this is a clarion call to duty. We will get cracking. Our joy, our happiness is that you are a man with the right experience and pedigree, you are a man with the right understanding, and you are a man who has suﬃcient exposure in the course of your several years of service at the political, traditional and cultural levels.

You understand what the imperatives are and so today, as the governor

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 156 of you Jerusalem state, let me charge you that even though you are aware of what your challenges are, your duty is to ﬁrst consolidate the Ijaw movement everywhere. Your duty is to mobilize our people and harness our resources everywhere. Your duty is to work with all of us to build bridges of understanding with our brothers in other groups; your duty is to cultivate alliances so that people can beer understand and appreciate the Ijaw position.

You are all aware my brothers and sisters and my leaders that we live in very trying times, because of the blessings God has continued to bestow on us. You know that there are so many challenges associated with that. And so, my charge toy you all will be to go back and mobilize and continue to pray for the success of our President.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 157 CELEBRATING THE EXAMPLE OF ISAAC BORO

Remarks at the state banquet to mark Major Adaka Boro Day, in Yenagoa on May 16, 2013

irst of all I would like to on behalf of the government and the good people of Bayelsa to welcome our leaders; the leaders of the FIjaw nation most sincerely to this 46TH anniversary of Isaac Adaka Boro.

A lot has already been said all through the aernoon about Boro our great hero, but because of the seriousness of the issues that the life and times of Boro inspired, I was not surprised this evening that we still got a lot of serious issues raised. This is a necessary dialogue and engagement that we need to have in this country.

But tonight is just our way of showing our usual Bayelsa hospitality; the Ijaw hospitality.

Ladies and gentlemen, my dear wife and the staﬀ of Government House put this evening together to enable us relax aer a very busy day and very serious discussions that we had this aernoon. So I am not going to make any long speeches; the night is already far gone. I just want to welcome you all to the new Bayelsa and the possibilities that it oﬀers.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 158 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON LAYING A WREATH AT THE BOROʹS TOMB DURING 2013 ISAAC BORO DAY CELEBRATIONS IN KAIAMA

When I ﬁnish my presentations I will invite you to dinner because if we are not careful our dinner will be turned to breakfast and it is on this note, ladies and gentlemen, that I thank you all for your support, encouragement and solidarity which you have demonstrated by your fellowship tonight and all through this event.

I also look forward to working with you because we talked about building bridges of understanding and cooperation. I also look forward to joining all of you in remaking our dear nation.

On this note, I like to invite the Reverend Jesse Jackson Snr. to please step forward as I present to him a certiﬁcate of an honorary citizenship of this great state of Bayelsa. And he is dressed as the quintessential Ijaw man that he is.

Going forward, we hope and believe that wherever he goes, he would espouse the potentials, values and ideals of the new Bayelsa, of the Ijaw nation of our great country, Nigeria and Africa that he has supported all through his life.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to make two presentations to him. I will present a plaque to him and to some of our dignitaries and friends and compatriots who are also here on behalf of government and the good

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 159 people of Bayelsa State, the Glory of All Lands, which we also call the Jerusalem of Ijaw nation.

It is my honour and singular privilege to confer on you, Reverend Jesse Jackson Snr., this certiﬁcate of Honorary Citizen of this great state of Bayelsa.

Now, that makes you a Bayelsan, an Ijaw man and that makes you a Nigerian as well. The chiefs and elders of this state and our leaders have also decided, aer extensive consultations to also give you an Ijaw name. And your name henceforth, shall be “Izontariowei.”

And while we continue to work on your skills in our language, which is a cardinal part of our culture; which our government is promoting in the state, the respect for our culture and history; allow me to explain the meaning of your new name.

Izontariowei means, “he who loves the Ijaw people.” So you are he who loves the Ijaw people and Ijaw nation. Ladies and gentlemen, this is in appreciation of the fellowship and solidarity that you have come to oﬀer and the encouragement and inspiration, that we and all the oppressed people of the world have drawn from your activities and the collaboration that came out of your work with the late leader of the civil rights movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr.

And particularly for supporting and inspiring us, it is my singular honour and privilege to present this token of our appreciation of your fellowship and solidarity to you tonight.

This is the plaque that contains the sacred crest of the people of Ijaw nation, the government of Bayelsa State, with all its rich history and cultural symbolism.

Now, having become a Bayelsan, it is my honour to also give you this crest containing the colours of our state with the inscription, “Proudly Bayelsan,” and each of you will get one. We also have cuﬀ links designed

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 160 in the colours of Bayelsa.

We also invite to the podium to receive a plaque, the Founder and President of the Odua Peoples Congress, Dr. Fredrick Fasheun, former Special Adviser on National Assembly, Alhaji Tanko Yakassai and other guest speakers, Dr. Emeka Enejere, Professor G.G Darah as well as representative of the Ijaws in the diaspora, Dr. David Ogola.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 161 OURS IS A GOVERNMENT OF THE ĲAW NATION

Address on the occasion of the 2012 World Ijaw Day celebration in Yenagoa on February 23, 2012.

I am delighted to be here on this occasion less than a week aer I was thrust onto the leadership of this great state.

I ran down from Abuja yesterday night. I said to myself that I must be here because this is a gathering of the Ijaw nation, and this gathering means a lot to all of us, especially people like me, who are products of the Ijaw struggle.

I want to, on behalf of the government and good people of Bayelsa, congratulate the Ijaw nation, on all our achievements so far. You will agree with me that God has been merciful to us, on the journey so far. Even though a lot still has to be done, even though the challenges ahead are enormous, we can congratulate ourselves.

Let me welcome you all to Yenagoa, the capital of our great state. Bayelsa is the New Jerusalem, the Jerusalem of all Ijaws, no maer where you reside. This is home to all Ijaws both at home and abroad. And in saying so, I am treading on a familiar turf. I am not a pioneer in

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 162 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON (R) IN A DISCURSION WITH THE FORMER INC PRESIDENT MR. BERNAMAISIA DURING THE 2012 ĲAW DAY CELEBRATION

this respect; that was what my leader, Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha did and that is what I am following: the tradition of service to the Ijaw Nation and the vision of our founding fathers who thought this state should not just be like any other state. This state is an ethnic nationality; this is where the Ijaw, the fourth largest ethnic nationality, has as its home.

On occasions like this, I donʹt like to make any pretence about where we stand on Ijaw mobilisation, on Ijaw integration and the Ijaw fundamental interests, no maer what they are. Let it be known that this government is an I.N.C. government. This administration is a government not just of Bayelsa State but a government of the Ijaw nation.

And so, let me welcome you all to my very ﬁrst interaction with our leaders and let me serve notice at the same time that we are going to have many more interactive sessions like this. That was the tradition set by our founding fathers; that was what our leader, Chief Alamieyeseigha did when he was here. And of course, that was what our brother, our leader, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan also followed when he was here as Governor and that is what I am set to do.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 163 And very soon therefore, in consultation with all the organs of our people, all the organs of the I.N.C. and aﬃliate bodies, we are going to have a major interaction. And I was actually looking forward to that even in the process of managing a nottootidy transition hurdle. I thought I should get through with that before I was informed by the Ag. President of the I.N.C. that Ijaw Day would be today and I said I must come.

So, my dear leaders, we have a lot to talk about, we have a lot of self examination to do but also a lot to congratulate ourselves about. Today, God has been very kind to us. God blessed the eﬀorts of the founding fathers of this state and today we have a Bayelsa we can call our own.

It could have been worse and because we have Bayelsa, and because of the prayers and support you have all given to the leaders of this state, look at Yenagoa that was just a local government headquarters is now a beautiful city and we intend to build on that.

Today, with all the support and prayers, God in His inﬁnite wisdom and mercy, made it possible for one of us to become the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. And I like to congratulate you all, I like to congratulate the proud, great people of the Ijaw nation. Irrepressible in spirit, we are a people that are second to none in this country. Our interests are not subordinate to any other interests.

We are out to prove that leadership is legitimised by service

Let me thank you all for the support and prayers you have been giving to the President. I know that even in the recent past, a couple of weeks ago, when we had this unfortunate fuel subsidy riots all over, it was very clear where every Ijaw man, woman or child stood. I want to thank

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 164 you for that support and solidarity that you all showed. I will like to use this opportunity to remind you as your governor that, that was the right thing to do and that you should continue to give him your support.

For us in Bayelsa, a new dawn has indeed arrived and from my background as a product of the Ijaw struggle, we are going to show service, which is the moo of the I.N.C., and this is one opportunity we have to prove that leadership is legitimised by service.

As I said earlier, very soon we shall interact robustly with the I.N.C. and with the Ijaw Youth Council (I.Y.C.) to see how we can mobilise the Ijaw nation as we are used to doing, to protect our vested interest in this country. We will be consulting and meeting regularly with our Ijaw leaders from the east and west and we will be mobilising massively, using all the organs of this body, to drum up support for our President, to drum up support for our leaders and above all, to fashion an agenda for the way forward.

Let me therefore say that it is our desire that, in consultation with the I.N.C. leadership, we intend to support an Ijaw political commiee, which will be carefully chosen to provide necessary support and advice that will assist us in giving necessary support to our other interests. For now the most important political interest that we have is the support and protection of the Presidency, precisely the President, in service and out of service. Or, isnʹt that so? And that is what we are going to do, to work with all our organs to achieve that aim.

In my inaugural speech, I sounded notice of tough decisions in Bayelsa that need to be taken. We have so many problems in the Ijaw nation but if we donʹt ﬁx Bayelsa, there is no way the Ijaw nation can make progress. I do not know how many people will agree with me but that is our assessment of the situation. This state is central. If Bayelsa fails, the Ijaw nation fails.

In Bayelsa, we all know how we got to where we are. Certain things are

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 165 not too right and we all need to resolve to begin to do things diﬀerently. Let me use this opportunity to call on all of you, the leaders in Bayelsa and the leaders in all the Ijaw nation; and even those, who, because of the machinations of the Nigerian state are balkanised into several other states where they have no voice of their own, Bayelsa is their state. Therefore, it is legitimate for them to follow with keen interest, things that go on in Bayelsa and that is why I am using this forum to highlight some of our goals.

The greatest crisis facing our people, not just in Bayelsa but the entire Ijaw nation, is the crisis of development. The most critical aspect of this development is the development of the human resource base that is fast dwindling. We are in grave trouble; we are actually siing on a time bomb.

And that is why, very soon, you will hear statements from me reducing the cost of governance, beginning with myself, beginning from Government House, at all levels, from the allocation for maintenance, to the security votes and to other sundry expenses.

The Ijaw nation needs development and the leaders as well as those who serve must recognise that and be prepared to make the necessary adjustments. I know that those decisions will be painful. I know that it is diﬃcult for people to adjust because they are already used to a particular paern of doing things, but my duty to the Ijaw Nation is to make those decisions that are painful but which are necessary for our development and for our survival.

And because these decisions are going to be painful, that is why I am

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 166 mentioning it here. People are certainly going to complain and when they do, please talk to them, that the survival of the Ijaw nation is more important than anybodyʹs personal comfort.

So, from next week, you are going to see, you will hear of decisions in that respect. And I promise myself that if there is going to be any state where the government should be slim, where the government should be transparent, where there should be greater emphasis on education, on human capacity building, on how to create jobs and skills, how to generate an economy that can create wealth, it should be Bayelsa.

This will enable us free the resources and plough them in areas where they are most needed, such as schools, training of our teachers, building of a nimble civil service; eﬃcient, motivated and highly professional civil service rather than a bogus civil service; and then bringing about a situation where our people become active participants in our economy. If not, this society will collapse right before our very eyes, and I want to pledge that under our watch, that will not happen.

So, soon, you will see massive investment in education, massive investment in healthcare delivery. We have the highest infant and maternal mortality rate in this country, and that is not good enough for the Ijaw nation. You will soon see how we shall plough resources for the rehabilitation of the health sector. Every local government headquarters in the state must have a functional General Hospital, at least, and I assure you that it is achievable. Fortunately, some work has been done in that area.

For instance, there is the 500bed hospital started by Chief Alamieyeseigha. If we complete these projects and put them to use and be prudent about the management of these projects and not what we are used to, you will see that even that hospital will aract Nigerians from everywhere to Yenagoa. So, this is the direction your government is going.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 167 And just as I said, we will interact regularly and I will be giving periodic reports of our activities to our leaders, because you need to know what we are doing so that you can buy into our vision, so you can help and advise on the way forward.

We are going to place emphasis on the propagation of Ijaw ideals, what we stand for as a people, the Ijaw ideology and here I must commend Chief Alamieyeseigha again because he started the I.N.C. national secretariat then, about seven years ago but that project has still not been completed and put to use.

I canʹt wait to go there with Chief Alamieyeseigha, the President of the I.N.C. and other Ijaw leaders to commission that project and put it to use, because it is symbolic. And not only that, we are making arrangements as a government, to expand the space, to acquire the adjoining areas, so that we can give it a very beﬁing look.

Let me draw your aention to one silent area of our slow death, well, actually two. One has to do with the scourge of HIV/AIDS. With the statistics given to me in the course of my initial interaction with health oﬃcials, I think we the leaders need to say more about this because while we are working hard in the communities, local governments, to secure the future of all those children, all our eﬀorts will come to nought if we donʹt protect them. And so, I like to use this opportunity to draw aention to the HIV/AIDS scourge that is silently decimating a very productive section of our population.

I intend to do more, I intend to have a robust policy of enlightenment and prevention.

I want to also draw aention to a silent aspect of us which is gradually dying away, which fortunately we can reverse, unlike the ﬁrst one, and that has to do with the erosion of our values, our culture, our history and most importantly, our language. The Ijaw language is in grave danger of being lost and we are not alone in this.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 168 We need to do something about this, and I must note that the administration of Chief Alamieyeseigha did something about this just as Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, when he was governor. I am also passionate about this. We seriously need to do something about the preservation of our essential values, because these are the things that make us who we are. We need to preserve them, improve upon them and pass them on as part of our heritage. We sincerely plan to do something in that direction and I am pleased that in this audience, we have our leader, an author, a foremost poet, Dr. Gabriel Okara.

And you can see how brave we are as a people; we are a great and proud people. In every area of human endeavor, we have people who have excelled. Let us make sure that the generation that is coming will still be able to produce the Dr. Gabriel Okaras, Prof Alagoas and Ambassador Lawrence Ekpebus, who went to Havard. Let us produce children that will be greater than we are.

Two other issues. Donʹt be surprised that in the appointments that would be made, the Ijaws, sons and daughters from states within the Ijaw nation will be involved to play one role or the other in this government, because we have a responsibility in this state to give leadership, to be the voice of our voiceless from other states, because that is what Chief Alamieyeseigha taught us and that is what we are going to do.

And I was going to say that as part of this policy of integration of the Ijaw nation for which we donʹt have any apologies to anybody, we will also, once our educational programmes come on stream, have free education for the children of Bayelsa State. Primary schools will be built, while others will be renovated, science education will be enhanced, computer literacy will be made mandatory to prepare the youth for the challenges of tomorrow.

I know that some of my leaders are concerned about how I am going to

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 169 get money to fund all this. We are going to do that by cuing costs, by blocking all wastages and leakages, by curbing corruption.

So when as your governor, as a product of the Ijaw system, we take those painful decisions, please stand by me and tell them that what the governor is doing is right.

When the free education comes on stream, the I.N.C. will be called to play a role; we will give some scholarship slots to the I.N.C. for bright Ijaw boys and girls from other states. We will even give them admission places into these free schools as Chief Alamieyeseigha did, as Goodluck Jonathan did. Who is going to take care of our children, who for no fault of theirs, are balkanised into states where they have no voice, some donʹt even have local governments to call their own? The Bayelsa State government must stand for them.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 170 BAYELSA STATE IS OUR JERUSALEM

Address at an interactive meeting with leaders of the Ijaw nation in the state on August 23, 2012.

et me on behalf of your grateful people appreciate you all for your individual and collective years of untiring service to this Lgreat nation in diﬀerent capacities and above all, to the cause of your people, the Ijaw people, to the cause of our state.

As we have always said time and time again, Bayelsa State is our Jerusalem, the Jerusalem of all Ijaw people and that was why during my inaugural address, I made it clear that this government was going to promote, within the conﬁnes and within the context of the laws and the constitution of this country, Ijaw integration; we will promote, project and defend Ijaw strategic interests.

But like I said, this is within the confines and the context of a united, egalitarian, democratic and peaceful Nigeria and that was why your government laid the foundation for what was to come by establishing the Ministry of Culture and Ijaw National Affairs for the first time in this state.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 171 GOVERNOR SERIAKE DICKSON OF BAYELSA STATE (LEFT) AND HIS AMIABLE WIFE, DR. (MRS.) RACHAEL DICKSON (MIDDLE) BEING PRESENTED WITH THE PRESTIGIOUS AWARDS AS ʹJERUSALEM AMBASSADORʹ AND ʹMOTHER IN ISRAELʹ RESPECTIVELY BY THE ISRAEL AMBASSADOR TO NIGERIA, MR. URIEL PALTI, DURING A CEREMONY TAGGED ʹCELEBRATING ISRAEL IN BAYELSAʹ AT THE BANQUET HALL, GOVERNMENT HOUSE, YENAGOA.

And we also followed it up by appointing a worthy son who some say is not from Bayelsa. As a member of the cabinet, this is ﬁrst time that has happened in this state. We have also appointed a number of other worthy Ijaw sons and daughters.

A number of them will still be coming into one oﬃce or the other. This is because the government of Bayelsa state must at all times provide a rallying point for all Ijaws who due to no fault of theirs are living in relative obscurity and are dealing with various disadvantages.

We cannot do that alone. We will work with all the organs of the Ijaw nation, weʹll work with all the leaders opinion, political, traditional and otherwise so that we can at all times formulate the best policies that will guarantee our prosperity and will protect our development.

And it is in furtherance of these general principles and to demonstrate the fact that this state belongs to all Ijaws, and all Ijaws have a stake in the development of this state, that all Ijaws must be rallied together by the government of Bayelsa state so that we can discuss the solutions to

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 172 our myriad problems.

I think that is why we have this interactive session. That is why we thought it necessary to constitute this Advisory Commiee on Ijaw National Aﬀairs. We intend to meet quite regularly with this body from time to time and discuss various issues as they arise.

It is on this general note that I would like to welcome you all, my dear leaders, leaders in whom we are all pleased, leaders whose contributions in this country we are all proud of, leaders who are though retired in some sense, but certainly not tired of volunteering yourselves for service. So I want to thank you for all the support and encouragement this government has received from you all individually and collectively.

I also want to thank you for all the support, prayers and sacriﬁces that you have all continued to make, in service of this country and particularly all the support you have been giving to the President.

I have said it on several occasions and let me repeat it here, that to the best of my understanding, the singular most important interest for the Ijaw nation for now remains the protection of the presidency.

It is on this note, my leaders, gentlemen and ladies of the press, that I formally inaugurate this commiee and then weʹll go into a business session. May God bless all of you, may God bless the Ijaw nation.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 173 TO THE ĲAW NATION WE WILL BE FAITHFUL

At the commissioning of IzonWari in the state on October 2, 2012.

oday is historic, but it is not a day for long political speeches. Because maers for the Ijaw nationality are not things we play Tpolitics with. They come straight from the heart, and I have no apologies for that. I said at the beginning of my inaugural address that this government is going to be INC [Ijaw National Congress] government.

This government will be faithful to the fundamental interests of the Ijaw nation.

That is the right thing to do. And as a result of that, we started hiing the ground running in all areas, including the establishment of the separate ministry, which we called, the Ministry of Culture and Ijaw National Aﬀairs

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 174 We looked for a suitable person all the way from Ibeno in the eastern ﬂank of the Ijaw nation to Arubgo in the west to man that ministry and we found that person in Dr. Felix Toudolo.

You all know his background and so you know where we are headed. I want to thank ﬁrstly, my leader, the ﬁrst civilian Governor, whom we still call GovernorGeneral, Chief DSP Alamieyeseigha and President Kimse Okoko, my worthy president who instituted this idea of having a permanent headquarters of our great INC, of which I was privileged to be National Legal Adviser.

I also want to thank the contractor who completed the work. I want to thank them for their vision, I thank Chief Alamieyeseigha for what he did by giving approval for this wonderful ediﬁce and giving it to somebody who will not just see this as routine business, but will have the commitment and aachment to having this completed. He looked and found no other person than Chief Joshua Fumudoh, life president of Ijaw. It is on this note that I hereby commission this ediﬁce to the glory of God, for the good of the Ijaw nation and of all mankind. God bless you all.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 175 AGENDA FOR DEVELOPMENT

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 176 OUR GOAL IS TO DELIVER A WORLDCLASS TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM

Address at the launch of the new transport scheme in the state on August 31, 2012.

got a deluge of lots of calls when I announced the ban on commercial motorcycles. Cynics said that there had been a Iprevious ban by the previous government and that it was not followed through and they suspected that our policy would suffer the same fate. Well Iʹve been on the saddle for about six months and I believe that people should know the difference and the difference is that when we say something, we mean it and we do it.

So today we are here to launch our new transportation policy in this state. We want a transportation system that is second to none. This is because very soon people will be trooping here for tourism, investment and even to live here.

While we are investing in security to make Yenagoa and our state safe, while we are investing on infrastructure to deliver worldclass infrastructure, we also must provide worldclass transportation system.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 177 RESTORATION CABS. PROVIDING DECENT AND EFFICIENT TRANSPORTATION IN YENAGOE AND ITS ENVIRONS

This is why your government is very serious about having an airport and very soon work will commence on that, to open up this state in collaboration with the federal authorities. That is why we are working to have a deepsea port so that the state will be opened up to the country and the rest of the world.

But that is not enough; we must provide worldclass road transportation for our people and not only road transportation, very soon boats will also be procured. I know and trust and believe that sooner than later you will all see the restoration buses going round everywhere in Yenagoa.

For us to provide for this, our policy is that in the course of the expansion of the major roads in Yenagoa our great city, we are going to make provisions for standard bus stops that will be part of the construction and design of all our major roads in Yenagoa, so that once the expansion starts you will see where the bus stops will be.

Now these restoration cabs that you all have seen, are good and going to be quite comfortable and safe for our people. I want to ﬁrst of all address commercial motorcycle riders. On my way I saw a number of them leaving our city, as a maer of fact in droves. And I said well, we

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 178 didnʹt say they should leave.

What I said is that people should stay here and do business in conformity with our policies and the laws of this state. But obviously Iʹm sure they are returning their motorcycles to where they can be useful.

As you all know, the ban on motorcycles is an act of the law itself, because the House of Assembly passed a bill which I also signed into law. So in addition to being our policy, it is also backed up by law.

I can understand that a lot of them are moving out their instruments of trade, which do not ﬁt our own concept of a new Bayelsa so I wish them the best and pray that they come back soon enough to join us, to contribute to our economy in more acceptable ways and manner.

Now my second message will be to those who are already beneﬁciaries of our restoration cabs. As you know to whom much is given, much is certainly expected. Your government has made this move; weʹve spent about N600 million in all.

When you add all the gadgets and facilities that we have procured and the insurance that has been provided, weʹve spent quite some money and this is a test scheme. So use these vehicles well and donʹt discourage us.

These vehicles are not intended to be private vehicles for your use as the newest ʹbig menʹ in the state. You are not to sit down at the back and relax and be chauﬀerdriven in these vehicles, you are not to park them in your houses, you are to actually put them to use with eﬀect from today. Once these vehicles are handed over to you, we expect to see them plying the streets and all the roads of Yenagoa; that will be your contribution to our economy.

My happiness is that a lot of care has been taken in the selection of the beneﬁciaries. On behalf of your government, I like to congratulate you

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 179 and this is what we mean by creating job opportunities, this is what we mean by ﬁghting and alleviating poverty, this is what we mean by expanding our economy.

I know that majority of those who were operating commercial motorcycles were actually not even from Bayelsa as you also know. Now you have an opportunity to own these vehicles. Use them well and then create a livelihood for yourself and your families.

You are expected to be our eyes and our ears, you are expected to report to appropriate authorities, anything you see, anything you hear in the course of this business that will help the work of the authorities. We want to keep Yenagoa safe; we donʹt want criminality in Yenagoa.

Anything you observe, anything you hear or that you think is unusual, itʹs your duty as agents of the new Bayelsa state, as our partners to let the appropriate authorities know. Iʹm sure you will get more of such instructions from the appropriate agencies, as you go on.

Now the second thing I would like to tell you is that, you are now our ambassadors. A lot of tourists will come in, people are streaming into Yenagoa to do business, to relax and enjoy their lives. That is what we want to see in Bayelsa. So I enjoin you all to ply your trade with decorum. Be cheerful and try to be as professional as possible.

For most of you, you are going to be the ﬁrst point of contact with those who are visiting our dear state. Even before they see me, or they see other oﬃcers of government, people visiting here are going to see you, meet you and interact with you.

You are expected to be public relations agents of the new Bayelsa. We are honest and hard working, cheerful people who mind our business. So I would like to enjoin you all to exhibit these traits as you carry on with your job.

We are out to ensure that our own transportation system would be just

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 180 like that of the London taxi scheme whereby aer some time, you may even not be carrying cash to pay in Bayelsa and in Yenagoa in particular.

We want to prepare our transportation system to be able to carry the weight of our vision.

Now to commuters, I would like to thank you all for your understanding, I know that initially, like anything new, we will all learn to adapt. There may be some slight inconveniences, but I believe that with the training that the ministry and the transport corporation have given to these drivers, I donʹt think that these will last for long.

I want you all to exercise some patience and understanding. This policy is for your good. I expect that we will all understand and work with the drivers and if you have any complaints, please donʹt hesitate to let the ministry of transport and the corporation know so that we can continue to perfect the system.

And so ladies and gentlemen, I would like to congratulate you all. I would like to thank the oﬃcers who have brought this into fruition. I have been told that before the end of next week, all the 200 taxicabs would have been delivered.

For those who have been itching to see the colors of Bayelsa, let me thank you honorable commissioner and the GM of the transportation corporation for picking the Bayelsa colors.

These vehicles, are symbolic, when you see these vehicles, you have seen Bayelsa. So I want to thank you for your creativity, your ingenuity and your commitment. For the beneﬁciaries, I congratulate you all.

Ladies and gentlemen, it is on this note that I would like to dedicate these vehicles for the use of humanity. it is on this note that I commission these vehicles and several others that will come as part of the restoration transport policy, for the use and service of our good people and to the glory of God Almighty.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 181 THE OIL INDUSTRY MUST EMPOWER THE LOCAL PEOPLE

Address at a 3day conference of the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB), on November 20, 2012.

Let me remind you all again that the story of Nigeria and oil exploration and exploitation started right here at Oloibiri, in Bayelsa State just about 5 minutes away from here in 1956.

Let me therefore say welcome to the home of oil and gas in Nigeria. I like to thank my good friend, Engr. Ernest Nwapa and other stakeholders for deciding on Yenagoa, to host this conference, because as you know, you cannot talk about oil and gas without mentioning Bayelsa.

Let me also use this opportunity to thank the Federal Government for locating the headquarters of the local content board here in Yenagoa. Let me also say that Bayelsa State Government has a partnership arrangement with the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board and it does not end with this conference because we want to open our doors to the board, which has given us the honour of hosting this event.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 182 Bayelsa State Governor, Hon. Seriake Dickson (2ndle) speaking during the opening ceremony of the 2nd Practical Nigerian Content Conference in Yenagoa, while the state Deputy Governor, Rear Admiral Gboribiogha John Jonh rtd, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum Resources, Amb. Abdulkadir Musa (2ndright) and the Executive Secretary Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, Engr. Ernest Nwapa (right) look on.

Let me declare that our government is willing to work with you to host this conference on an annual basis.

This should be our lile contribution to underscore our interest in maintaining a robust relationship with all stakeholders, particularly the International Oil Companies (IOCs) who we see once in a blue moon and today, we have a blue moon.

I believe that this conference will stimulate a robust discourse on the various challenges that the local content issue has thrown up.

And as you all know, this local content maer is dear to us because we are confronted with issues of creating jobs, wealth and encouraging greater participation of our people in an industry that more or less ought to be our own.

You are all aware of the challenges the oilbearing communities and oil bearing states face.

If you take statistics of the number of people who are involved in the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 183 various activities in oil and gas, both in the downstream and upstream sector, well the Department of Petroleum Resources is here and you will bear me out and oil majors are also here, you will discover that there is a very low percentage involvement of the people of the oil producing areas.

And so while we are talking of Nigerian content, thatʹs well and good, we are not opposed to that, but I think we should also be talking of sub Nigerian content, which is the involvement in all sectors of the industry by people in the areas where these activities really take place.

There are some aspects of the Nigerian content that should strictly speaking, be local. If you look at what we go through here in Bayelsa, I have just reminded you about what you all know as a historical fact, which is that, oil and gas exploitation started here. The ﬁrst oil well here, when you look at it, you will see that it presents a metaphor of what it is today and what it is likely to be tomorrow: the story of neglect; some people call it, “use and dump”.

Now if you take a census of those who are doing business in the oil sector; who have oil wells and oil blocs and licenses to li oil, including those who do the mega businesses and deals in the oil companies, you will see that they do not have oﬃces here.

The people of the oil producing areas are not involved so we end up creating wealth at our own detriment. So the local content instrument is a veritable platform for promoting participation of indigenous oil producing areas.

They stay in mega cities and do the mega deals and carry out the mega businesses; they get richer, they become billionaires and you create more militants and disgruntled elements. Some states smile to the banks in billions every month because of the taxes and levies paid by the companies and boosting the economies of such areas where they reside.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 184 We do not begrudge anybody for whatever they get, no that is not the point I am making. All I am saying is that, while others are also beneﬁing we should also not be le out. And that in looking at the local content, all stakeholders should make deliberate eﬀorts to promote the involvement of local, indigenous participation in states that produce oil and gas.

I cannot frankly, think of anybody in Bayelsa who carries on big time businesses in both upstream and downstream sectors. I am not saying that it is totally the fault of the oil companies and other stakeholders. What I am saying is that, that is a scenario that is not really acceptable; that is something that we really need to improve upon.

While talking about local content today, we should spare some thought on how the IOCs need to encourage people from the oil producing areas, not just to build classroom blocks and doing deworming contracts, no.

We need to get them the skills that will enable them to participate more robustly in all aspects of the oil and gas industry. Aer all, this is an activity that takes place within this area.

And I was telling someone a few days ago that, what you guys siing down in Abuja; it used to be siing down in Lagos but now it is Abuja, what you guys in the Department of Petroleum Resources call, “oil bloc”, is actually somebodyʹs ancestral land. Thatʹs the truth.

When you look at it, its very convenient as an oil bloc. I have not seen an oil bloc by the way, I do not know what it looks like. But I know that the reality of it is that, itʹs somebodyʹs ancestral heritage that is being partitioned. We are not opposed to that.

So let me use the opportunity to remind us all that as a government we have a lot of challenges as do all my colleagues in the Niger Delta, confronted with mounting unemployment rates; confronted with low

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 185 capacity of our people; confronted with a need to massively increase wealth creation and generate involvement of our people in activities that can sustain them.

I just want to remind us all of our responsibilities to our operating environment. For us in Bayelsa, we have a very ambitious programme of infrastructural turn around. We are investing massively in human capacity building.

These last couple of months, this state has become one of the safest states in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Yenagoa, our capital city has clearly become one of the safest cities in this country. But this is just the beginning.

And so while we do our best, while we continue to do what we as a government can do, I urge you all to join us and robustly collaborate to ensure that we create jobs, create wealth, increase the capacity of our people to fend for themselves and have a meaningful future.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 186 THE CIVIL SERVICE MUST ANCHOR OUR RESTORATION

Address to Bayelsa State civil servants on November 26, 2012

his being our ﬁrst interaction, I want to thank you all for the support that I know you all gave during the course of the Tcampaigns and elections. Let me also thank you for the support, prayers and the solidarity our government has enjoyed from you all hard working, commied, dedicated and selﬂess civil servants of this state. Now, today is for us to talk on serious issues moving forward.

We have said it repeatedly and you have also heard your Head of Service repeating it, that the civil servants are the engine room of government. You are like the owners of the house; we the political leaders even those that I appoint and send to your ministries as your commissioners, we are all temporary masters; you are the permanent occupants of that house. We are tenants in our own case; the constitution says four years and then if it pleases God and you the people, another four years.

So the most that a Governor, a Deputy Governor can stay working with

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 187 BAYELSA STATE GOVERNOR, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON ADDRESSING CIVIL SERVANTS DURING HIS MAIDEN INTERACTIVE SESSION WITH THEM IN YENAGOA

you is eight years. So you see, there are only two people who have limited tenure, myself and my Deputy Governor, but you, your tenures are 35 years or sixty years, whichever is earlier, so you can see what we mean when we say you are the engine room of government.

It is you and you alone who will determine whether this state moves forward or changes for the beer. All Iʹm expected to do and which I have been doing is to dream the big dream, come up with the big idea and then mobilise the resources to achieve that dream. You are the instruments and it is your house and as they say, as you make your bed, so shall you lie on it.

Today we are going to talk on how to make our bed, your own bed, the new Bayelsa State. I wont be able to achieve anything in this government, unless two things happen.

You need to understand our vision, you need to understand what motivated me to run for election, to take all the personal risks, to take it upon myself to lead a team of commied people who at a time did

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 188 things that seem like we wanted to commit group suicide, just to protect our vision and chart a new course of action and destiny of our people.

You need to understand that it is not enough to just work on dry ﬁles and read or give dry minutes without emotional aachment, without sentiments, and feel you have done your job; no that is not enough; you need to know the things that have motivated us to do what we are doing. We are doing the same thing serving the public, but in diﬀerent ways.

So I thought today, we should share some of these things and I have brought to you all, the vision of service, service to society and to one self the least; service that says if you serve human beings well, you serve God well too. Itʹs not only by going to church and by clapping or going for night vigils or speaking in tongues, which is all good, and most of you do all of these, but if you donʹt have a culture of serving, selﬂessly, your fellow human beings, I am not sure how far those prayers can go.

So what motivates me, you should know today is, service to humanity and to oneʹs self the least, because service to man is service to God. You are very important in what we want to do in serving our people.

You have seen me take a few decisions about the public service of the state. You saw how in the second week or so, contracts were coming up for construction of new secretariat complexes so that our civil servants and appointees, who are also public servants can have beﬁing places to stay and work.

For a long time we have never bothered about providing the spaces and it is sad. Iʹve rented over 20 apartments and buildings to accommodate public servants. That should not have happened. You have heard me talk about the public service training school and I want to deliver on that as quickly as possible. Let me say to you all and particularly to the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission and the Head of Service, this should be the last time I should talk about this as a statement of intent.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 189 Try and get a place for which I can approve money for construction or for outright purchase so that we can begin the process as soon as possible. Next year we can begin the process of puing our civil servants through that training programme. If you bring a memo even tomorrow, I will approve it. That is how serious I am on this maer, but I cannot generate a memo for you.

You have also seen me take decisions about restoring the authority of senior civil servants, how Iʹve said permanent secretaries and directors should take responsibility for preparing payrolls and determine who is allowed to be on our payrolls. If somebody is not coming to work, if somebody somehow by the civil service rules, does not deserve to be on our payroll, ladies and gentlemen you have my authority to stop them.

I have now given you that authority which before now, was in one unknown unit in the Treasury. Now permanent secretaries and senior oﬃcers have that power and iʹm sure that you now are in a beer position to exercise discipline. You have also seen how I exercised my judgment in the appointment of permanent secretaries. But by and large you know how I appointed secretaries based on seniority. I didnʹt know any of them, none of them knew they were to be appointed, none lobbied, and that is part of professionalising your service.

You have also seen the judgment I exercised in the new appointment Iʹve made of your Head of Service, which is to say that henceforth we want a depoliticized civil service, we want a civil service where the traditions of respect for seniority will be upheld; we want a civil service where you donʹt need to lobby the chief executive of a state or anybody for that maer to be able to get your due.

I believe that at the end of the tenure of the current Head of Service, there should be certainty about the transition because the civil service is not a political organization. That is the tradition Iʹve tried to bring back to your service and I hope that in all the decisions that you take and

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 190 what you do, you also follow suit so that we can leave behind for this state, a professional, respectable civil service.

Civil servants are people some of us respect a lot because of the discipline you go through. A civil servant will have the discipline to get up early, go to work daily irrespective of distractions.

Look at what you do as civil servants; you process memos with cost implications running into millions, hundreds of thousands and billions of naira. And for most of you, you go back home and you still have bills unpaid, children crying and relations that need aention and support.

So civil servants are people I respect a lot, and because they do this for a long period, they accumulate a lot of knowledge about human beings, they know more people than you will ever know, and they know how to deal with situations and deal with people and manage situations.

Now we need to therefore talk of how we can bring back the lost traditions, the wrien ones and the unwrien traditions, discipline and honor and integrity of your service. I will serve out my tenure, whatever time God decrees and the people determine because I believe power comes from God and Iʹll leave, but youʹll remain just as somebody le, and I came in.

But one thing I want to leave behind if you will all support me is that, I would like you to be beer civil servants so that whoever comes aer me will meet a beer civil service than I have met. That I think is basically the thrust of this interaction and because of where we want to take our state to and the civil service in particular, you have seen the judgment I have exercised in composing your Civil Service Commission, those that will look at your maers, those that will take decisions that will aﬀect you and aﬀect your career.

You have seen how I le out the politicians, you have seen how we went to bring a man, unarguably one of our best, your former Head of

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 191 Service, who served with honor and dignity and retired there and was doing well representing us in Abuja. I had to bring him, he didnʹt lobby for it, I had to bring him to help reshape our service and he is here, Deacon Bob Ozaka, the Chairman of the Civil Service Commission.

We are determined to reposition the service and we need your cooperation. By this we simply mean that we should be disciplined. I feel sad when it is said that in Bayelsa State the only rich people are civil servants. I have heard it severally that those who own hotels and those who own the ﬂashy cars in Yenagoa are the civil servants.

Since we want to move forward we have to have the ability to examine ourselves because that is critical to selfdevelopment. When you want to do beer, you must have the ability to examine yourself. I am not the one who said those things; I am only saying those are prevailing sentiments and impressions out there, maybe real, maybe true, maybe not quite true, but in this business, sometimes impressions could even be more important than the truth or the reality. All I am saying is that there is an impression out there which I pray is not true or which we all need to work hard at changing.

When you look at this state as small as it is, and you have about the highest wage bill in the Federal Republic of Nigeria that should tell you that things are not quite right.

Each time I relate with the senior civil servants of this state, I am proud of their all round development and dedication. What I am not sure of most times is what happens down the ladder.

I am very satisﬁed with the quality of leadership at the top level but that tells us why we need to constantly remind ourselves to improve down the ladder. So those are the problems we have. Therefore, my dear civil servants, you have to join us particularly now that you have a government that has a clear vision of where our state is going.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 192 We cannot afford an inefficient bureaucracy, we cannot afford a bureaucracy that exists only on pay day, or on verification day, or on a day the Governor intends to interact with civil servants.

I thought I was having a meeting with all civil servants of the state but I am not quite sure if the aendance here is what I am paying 4 billion naira as salaries every month for.

So we have major challenges. No single civil servant will say that your Governor, the Hon Dickson has given one instruction that is intended to enrich himself or any body close to him and you will never hear that as long as I am Governor. So now I am throwing a public challenge. We have an opportunity to reshape our destiny now so I invite you all on board. Let us show more commitment in the decisions and actions that we take, show more discipline.

What I want to do is to see how we can support you and take much of the burden oﬀ you.

We are planning on how civil servants will get low cost houses and the provision of transport buses; in addition to that, school buses have been made available for children to and from school. There is a plan to introduce a health insurance system for our public service, which I am sure would be emulated by other states in the country.

We want to introduce it as a contributory arrangement but with most of it funded by the state. We will have a world class Diagnostic Centre and other facilities.

The Head of Service and the leadership of the civil service should help the government to reduce corruption in the civil service and every saving we make on that score means that one more civil servant has decided to do the right thing.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 193 We have reduced the wage bill from close to 6 billion naira to about 3.7 billion naira. It does not mean that people will be sacked for us to spend less on payment of salaries; it only means that we want to identify the real workers and all civil servants should be part of that. The most sacred obligation of a civil servant is to be loyal to constituted authority, make your point ﬁrmly, fairly and clearly.

Our duty is to create the environment that will enable civil servants to be their best and that is why we have taken some decisions to depoliticize the civil service. There will be a clear distinction in the state between those who want to be politicians and those who want to be civil servants doing the work of the civil service.

The commission is in safe hands and I am giving them total support to ensure that discipline and order are restored; same for the Head of Service who is one of our professional best.

We have discovered, that as a state we have, one of the least internally generated revenue in this country and yet you all want development in this state. If there is fraud in every ﬁle or memo, you canʹt see development and at the end of the day it would be unfair to say, so and so governor did not perform, because aer all you yourself did not perform.

You made the governor not to perform by commiing fraud, going late to work, by wrong aitude and now, by not paying appropriate tax. We have a situation where a lot of people are undertaxed.

I am not proposing a new law. It is a national law and this state is not following that law. The right thing has to be done, beginning with me and all my political appointees.

Because of the ﬂood and other things, the remaining months are the months of grace but from January 1st, next year we must pay proper tax. Even the ordinary people on the street, we have to tax ourselves.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 194 That is what gives us rights as citizens. It is not to claim to be a citizen and be abusing everybody, but you donʹt have a stake because you donʹt pay tax, yours is that everybody owes you everything and you donʹt owe anybody anything: that aitude must stop.

One other thing I want to say is that Iʹm not happy with the plight of retired civil servants in this state. It is a very sad thing that aer serving the state for 35 years or aer working until you clock 60 years, just at the time the state should say thank you, most of the retirees are le hopeless and helpless and le to fend for themselves.

I have been briefed that since 2005 till date retired public oﬃcers who gave their best have not been paid their pensions. I have been informed that this state is owing lile or no gratuity payment at all but we are owing pensions and that should not be.

I set up a commiee and it studied the situation and brought a report to me, which shocked me that the sum of N3.5 billion is the outstanding arrears of pension payment to the extent that permanent secretaries served and retired without pensions. Some have died without receiving their pensions and up until now they have not been paid. This is not acceptable.

When I got the report I made a commitment that we were going to look for a way to verify this claim to begin payment. Since making that pledge we have set aside N750 million just for payment of pensions. So I announce a commiee right now, which will be made up of the Hon. Commissioner for Finance, the Head of Service, leadership of the NLC and nominations from the Pensions Oﬃce. Secretary to Government will inaugurate them in the course of the week, to begin the process of verifying who these pensioners are and how much they are entitled to.

Let me turn to the gentlemen who call themselves the National Union of Pensioners who allow themselves to be part of misguided political move to discredit this government. Let me ask them: if for 5 years of the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 195 GOVERNOR OF BAYELSA STATE, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON (RIGHT) DOING HIS FINGER PRINT SHORTLY AFTER BEING VERIFIED BY MRS. CHINWE UZAKA (LEFT) AT THE ONGOING VERIFICATION EXERCISE OF CIVIL SERVANTS AND ALL POLITICAL OFFICE HOLDERS AT THE EGOVERNANCE AND DUE PROCESS OFFICE IN YENAGOA, WHILE HIS DEPUTY, REAR ADMIRAL GBORIBIOGHA JOHN JONAH RTD, (2NDRIGHT) LOOKS ON.

last administration, pension was not paid, how many times they took to the streets or resorted to blackmail.

Here we are inheriting a mess and making the best out of a bad situation. Pensioners are very senior oﬃcers. I expect them not to be part of any calculated aempt to discredit a government that everybody knows is trying its best. We are here to do what is right; once the veriﬁcation is completed payment would be made.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 196 A DILIGENT WORKFORCE IS KEY TO DEVELOPMENT

Address at a retreat organised by government in conjunction with ASCON for permanent secretaries in Yenagoa on March 4, 2013

et me say that when the Head of Service came to me with the request for this training exercise, I had no diﬃculty approving Lthat application because training, retraining and interactions like this are what I am actually enthusiastic about to assist the public service.

It is through this training that you can sharpen your edges, update your knowledge and rededicate yourselves to your service and then to the service of the state. I look forward to many more training sessions. We have started with permanent secretaries. Very soon I expect a request for training of the Directorate cadre as well so that at the end of the day, all the principal functionaries of our bureaucracy will live up to their duties and responsibilities. They all need to update their knowledge and skills as to how to man our bureaucracy.

I have always said that we the leaders, whether elected or appointed, are all temporary oﬃcials in government, while you the public servants are the permanent landlords. By the rules of the civil service,

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 197 GOV.SERIAKE DICKSON (R) FELICITATING REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DG,ASCON, MR.MATHEW ADEGBOLA DURING A RETREAT FOR PERMANENT SECTRETAIES

you have sixty years of service, that is, you are allowed to serve until you are sixty years old or you serve thirtyﬁve years, which ever is earlier.

But for those of us who are elected, the constitution has a speciﬁed tenure for us and that tenure is known to all of you. Appointees are even worse; they have no tenure. If you look at this room, those who have opportunities to serve for long are by so doing aﬀecting the destiny of our people. Our duty therefore at all times, is to support you, give you the political support you need to reposition your service and dedicate yourselves to the service of our state.

The bureaucracy you all represent is the instrument through which any government achieves its objectives. And that is why an essential aspect of our reform process has to necessarily involve repositioning the public service through you. Now, let me therefore, thank the Head Of Service and the permanent secretaries for the show of support, solidarity and understanding that my government has received from the top leaders of our bureaucracy.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 198 The agenda that we have set for our people is a tough one. And I know that even at weekends and public holidays, I summon people. For some political appointees, I pity them because that is their lot. But for most of you, by your normal civil service way of doing things, once it is 3:30pm or 4:00pm you close from work, but that culture is changing because that is the spirit of the new Bayelsa we are poised to establish. I know that in an aempt to reposition your service, lots of decisions have been taken and let me assure you that several more will be taken.

But in all of these, we expect that you people should be the ﬁrst to understand the reason why any government that means well must invest in the public service and we must support the leadership of the public service. When we announced the decision that permanent secretaries should take responsibility for preparing vouchers and authorising those that should be on our payroll, of course those who have been cheating over the years did not like it. But we have a duty and responsibility to take decisions that are in the best interest of the people.

When we came up with the decision that those who have their names on our payroll that keep collecting salaries but do not work will be ﬁshed out, we knew that the culprits will complain. While you are doing what is right, people who are beneﬁting from doing wrong things will complain. But that would not and should not deter us; it does not deter me one inch from my commitment to do what is right and fair.

I want to urge you all also as leaders of the various ministries, not to be deterred. The commiee that I set up has compiled a list of several people whose names are to be taken out of our payroll as a result of persistent absenteeism by which they qualify to be ghost workers as well as those who do not stay in their oﬃces. We have records and I believe they are all aware that the commiee is closely monitoring what our public servants are doing.

You are the people to implement all these actions, so I urge you all to

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 199 redeem the image of your service; it is your service. My duty is to give you support, so that we do what is right, so that we bequeath together, a public service that is eﬃcient and respectable. What I say today and always is this, do not fail to take decisions that are in the best interest of your people.

When our state was created we knew that we had very few top civil servants in the old Rivers State. Therefore a culture of anything goes cropped in. It is your duty to stop that culture.

If others have condoned it, our Restoration Government is saying no to it. And you who are the owners of the bureaucracy have to take advantage of our policy to ensure that you sanitise the public service.

Now for those who are doing what is right, playing by the rules and doing your jobs diligently, let me assure you again today that your government would continue to support and encourage you.

In my discussion with the Nigeria Labour Congress and Trade Union Congress, we all agreed to implement the risk law of this country and by so doing, say byebye to discriminatory tax regime in this state. I want to thank you all civil servants as well as political appointees for your understanding.

Paying tax is a civic responsibility and not a favor to any government and our government has not introduced any new tax regime. We are only seeking the implementation of the Pay As You Earn, (PAYE) tax which is the Personal Income Tax Act, (PITA). This is being implemented everywhere in this country and Bayelsa cannot be an exception.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 200 Even people who are not in the public service, very soon we will see how we would evolve a tax regime. The tax policy will include everybody not just those in the civil service. This is because oil money, free oil money has made our people lazy and I do not want our people to be made irresponsible and when you talk of responsibility, it begins with tax. That is the elementary spirit. Paying tax is a sign of civic responsibility.

So the tax dragnet will be perfected and spread out to everybody in the state so that they can all have a stake in the development of our state. I want to thank you all for your understanding and support.

The Head of Service and permanent secretaries, let me assure you that your government is now ready to roll out a set of measures that will support and assist you all.

On this note, government will within a short time and I can only be limited by the Surveyor Generalʹs oﬃce and Ministry of Lands, acquire a 100 hectares of land for development of lowincome estate houses for civil servants. I believe we will be laying the foundation stone of that estate in the next two months.

But like I said, provisions have been made, ﬁnances set aside so I can only be limited by the time that they will take to carry out survey work and other modalities. It is going to be located at Agbura. Those of you permanent secretaries, your own is going to be a very beautiful estate, of which we will be laying the foundation soon opposite the ﬁve star hotel complex.

The second policy announcement is that, we will acquire more buses. We presently have six buses for transportation of civil servants. We will acquire additional four so that we can have a mass transit system for all our public servants and that scheme will kick oﬀ on or before the end of this month. Government will fund it totally.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 201 We are not through with reforms yet. There is an unhealthy practice in this state. I do not know when it started, but it has been on and you all know about it. Apart from this ghost workers syndrome, there are people who are not entitled to special salaries, for example, some categories of medical workers that are fraudulently earning the Medical and Health Workers salary scale.

They do not get entitled to medical and health scale merely by membership of the medical union. Whether you are to be on that scale depends on your qualification. Reports at my disposal have shown a fraudulent practice by which people without medical qualifications but merely because they fill out membership forms of the Medical and Health Workers Union, are paid medical and health workers scale.

That is not just wrong it is criminal. Today I direct the ﬁnance commissioner, working with the head of service to set up a system through which you will weed them all out. Stop paying medical and health workers salaries to persons who do not have essential medical and health qualiﬁcations. And I do not want to say what the consequences will be because in this state, with the cooperation of the House of Assembly, we have a law on payroll fraud that prescribes ten years jail for anybody found wanting.

But I am not saying we will begin by prosecuting them, it is a practice that has been on for a very long time but the Finance Commissioner, working with the Head of Service and supported by my Special Adviser on Treasury and Account Maers will ensure that from this month, salaries that will go out for March, no such persons should be paid Medical and Health Workers scale.

There are other reforms that I have told the Head of Service to initiate. These reforms will lead to the proper designations of the top leadership of the civil service. If you are a permanent secretary and you are a medical doctor, we need to properly streamline what your salaries and

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 202 allowances will be.

The Head of Service will set up a system and work out the details and discuss with me. Concerning training, the Head of Service has mentioned our commitment on the issue and this is about the third or fourth time I am talking about the need for us to start our Civil Service Training Institute. I believe the Head of Service will expedite action in collaboration with the Ministry of Lands and Works to enable you ﬁnalise your plans.

This will enable us start the construction work because this type of interaction ought to be taking place at the institute. An institute is a place where every public servant should pass through. Going forward, I do not see any reason why we should not have civil servants take a test for promotion or progress in their career. So the institute is very important. By this time next year, we should have gone very far.

I want to thank you all for your understanding. Just note that we are all working for a beer Bayelsa State in spite of the constraints. Just bear in mind that all of us are working together to lay a foundation for a new Bayelsa. So explain to your subordinates that because something has been going on all these years, does not mean it is right. And people should have the courage to stop it if it is not sustainable. That we are doing so does not mean we are punishing civil servants but if we do not do so, this state will be stuck. If we allow the impunity and illegalities to continue merely because other administrations allowed them or did not address them, this state will selfdestruct.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 203 The mandate I have, which I share with you all is to ensure that even when something is bier, once it is the right thing, we as leaders, all of us must have the courage to execute it. It is within your duties to explain these policies to your subordinates and tell them the need for them. Nobody prepares omelet without breaking eggs.

Now we have a sustainable way of funding welfare schemes for our civil service. We have a way by which we fund development in the state. You are seeing what is happening in the state not just in the state capital, but in every local government area. Look at what is going on in health, education, infrastructure, on housing, agriculture, women and youth empowerment.

We need an eﬃcient civil service not a political civil service. A politicized and divided civil service cannot deliver the agenda that we have. A civil service where you turn yourselves to be critics of government or point ﬁngers at government cannot deliver.

So we must ensure that we work with you to ensure that you get the right training and motivation to do your jobs in an eﬃcient manner. I want to thank you, the Head of Service and all Permanent Secretaries. Let me also thank the Director General through his representative of the Administrative Staﬀ College of Nigeria (ASCON). I am aware that we have sent a lot of public servants to your institute for training and we will continue to do so until our own institute is ready.

I expect those who will be in charge of that institute to continue to liaise

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 204 with ASCON so that you can sharpen the professional edges of the service of the state.

Knowing you all and a number of you I appointed permanent as secretaries and you saw how we went about it, no lobbying, no inﬂuence. None of you knew you were to be appointed, none of you came to talk about postings; that is the tradition of the civil service we are returning to.

There will be no political interference with the career prospects of a hardworking, diligent public oﬃcer. So I will like your support to continue in that tradition so that at the end of the day, our state and the public service will be beer.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 205 CHANGE HAS COME TO BAYELSA STATE

Address at a meeting with PDP stakeholders at the partyʹs secretariat in Yenagoa on March 5, 2013

This government is your government; it is a Peoples Democratic Party government and I consider myself as only a custodian of your mandate, a mandate that was given to PDP. And you know, that place where you people have kept me is one very big prison yard.

Sometimes government oﬃcials like us also want to come out so that we can interact with you people. So today, and going forward, any day I come is for party work. When you have challenges, present them to the constituted authority at your level, ward chairman, L.G.A chairman. Tell them the problems, they will collate them. If you are in the working commiee, raise all the concerns that need to be raised. The state chairman and working commiee will handle them. There are some that will come in and see me because it is their government.

I want to make this clear: the state chairman of our party is of higher status than a member of the cabinet of our government. So anything we do not solve by those interactions, any day I come here, I want to listen

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 206 GOV.DICKSON (M), DISCUSSING WITH THE STATE PDP CHAIRMAN, COL. SAM INOKOBA (RTD) (R), WHILE THE DEP. CHAIR, NYANAYO TUBO (L), LOOKS ON, DURING A MEETING WITH PDP STAKEHOLDERS @ THE PDP SEC., YENAGOA. to them all from the grassroots. How are our people faring and their priorities? What do they think of what we are doing in government because it is your government. If the governor fails, it is you all that have failed, it is PDP that would have failed.

Sometime ago, we had some people in charge and we saw how diﬃcult it was to sell our party in this state. People from nowhere came up with Labour Party because the situation was very bad.

We are in government yet nobody was in government. It was a government of only a few and we know how we fought hard, those of us that were contesting elections. We know how diﬃcult it was in every community we went to. In one constituency because I was seeking re election, the communities will tell me ʺehm, your party don die oh, we donʹt like your party again but we like you, you are doing well, we will support you.ʺ

I visited them all and they did not disappoint, all of them were at the ﬁnal elections and we worked. Now, you have to show more interest in the aﬀairs of your government. If we are doing well, as people say we are and we

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 207 believe we are, you are all doing well, take the credit for it. Go home, tell them what your PDP government is doing.

The roads that are going on, the peace that has come to stay in our dear state and will be with us forever, the love and solidarity, the unity that has come to Bayelsa, the purposefulness that has returned to government, the respect that Bayelsa state now enjoys all over this country and even outside is because of you all. And most importantly, your prayers.

As you know, when you are doing good things, there will be people who are ashamed, that what they could not do in 5/6 years, we have come to do, even more than that, in just one year. So you have to be on guard. Actually, it is when you are making progress that you should be more careful. Our Ijaw people say ʺit is good to be tall, it is good to do well but when you stand out, you ought to be prepared for the priest.ʺ

No candidate in the history of this state has gone through more litigations than me. That will take care of itself. Our concern is you. Keep your focus. Your party is on course. Your state is on course. Do not allow anybody to come and bamboozle you, because what they want to do is show that even when you work hard for Bayelsa people, they do not know good things and they would ask: So why are you working hard for them?

But let me assure you, my faith and conﬁdence in you the good people of Bayelsa has never shaken and will not shake. You deserve the best we can oﬀer. Let me assure you, the best is yet to come. We have served for only one year; aer the second, third and as we get to the fourth year, people will out of envy hide themselves in shame.

When we will go round and commission this dual carriageway we are constructing, the ﬂyovers that will spring up, the schools rebuilt, and Bayelsa people have turned a new leaf and you have security in this state, you are now the most secure state in the Federal Republic of

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 208 Nigeria, some people will remain envious and want to sponsor people to cause crisis.

They are happy when bad things happen. That is how you know those who donʹt mean well for their people.

Look at the story of Solomonʹs judgment of the two women who were ﬁghting over a baby. Let me urge you all, the people of Bayelsa, make una shine una eyes, and open your ears, do not behave in a way that your enemies will laugh at you people and let the world not say that you Bayelsans do not even know what you want.

Now, people outside the state look at Bayelsa with respect because they now believe that Bayelsa has changed for good and is on the move.

We all know that is true. The world is watching to know whether when you see something good, you know how to hold and protect it, and if you do not know, people will laugh at you. But that is not your lot in Jesus name.

I can never be discouraged nor deterred and I will continue to work for it. God came down and helped us to make a diﬀerence in this state. If you saw the way we campaigned and how we did our elections, you will see the handwork of God. We went round, did elections without problems. God maneuvered away all the obstacles that came our way; that is the way it will continue to be. Not by our power, but by His grace.

So you should know that there is the hand of God in Bayelsa now; if we do not appreciate this God gets upset and things will be hard on us. But that is not our portion. I want to thank you, want to thank the state chairman, all party leaders at all levels, and assure you that your

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 209 government is here for you. Sell the ideas and policies of our government because this is your government. Where you have concerns feel free to express them, respect and work with constituted authorities at all levels and continue to support us in prayers.

Your chairman referred to me as leader of your party. But I have always said in this state, the President is the leader of the party, I am the chief commander here. You all working with me will work to ensure that the state is kept safe so we do not allow the opponents and enemies of the President, opponents of Ijaw nation, to bring things that will deﬁle this state. We want to focus on how we can give support to him at the federal level. Work together in peace and harmony and we, your government, will not let you down.

And please when you get back home, tell your people, in their communities, towns, villages, wards, local governments, that change has come to your state. That the PDP government will not fail them. Tell them that their development, their prosperity and security is assured.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 210 OUR REVOLUTIONARY STEPS IN EDUCATION ASSURE BAYELSAʹS FUTURE

Address at the presentation of free school uniforms and other materials in Yenagoa on April 30, 2013

am delighted and honored to be here for the flag off of presentation of school materials and uniforms to our students and Ipupils in public schools in this state. You are aware that the first policy statement I issued in the course of my inaugural was a declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector. And I said we were going to invest heavily in that sector because education is an instrument of change for us, an instrument for promoting development, prosperity and security.

Education is the means by which we can not only bring about a beer and prosperous tomorrow but it is the only way we can guarantee and safeguard it.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 211 GOVERNOR OF BAYELSA STATE, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON (2ND LEFT) PRESENTING FREE EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS TO GODSWILL BERNARD (3RD LEFT) OF ST. MATHIAS PRIMARY SCHOOL DURING THE FLAGOFF CEREMONY FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OF FREE EDUCATION MATERIALS AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE YENAGOA, WHILE THE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, MR. SALO ADIKUMO (LEFT), CHAIRMAN BRITISHAFRICAN ALLIANCE, MR. DAVID SMITH (2ND RIGHT), MAYOWA OLAWALE OF BDGS (RIGHT) AND THANKGOD EKAMUGHA LOOK ON.

We have wasted no time, no resources in pursuing that aspiration.

We said we are going to make schools very eﬃcient; we are going to build the school infrastructure which was comatose. But we know that merely building beautiful school buildings is not all it takes to achieve our goal. We are addressing the provision of teaching aids; we are providing free facilities. It is part of what we are here to witness. But above all, we are also addressing a very critical issue of training, and the issue of welfare and morale of teachers, because the teacher is the most important element in that system. You can have beautiful school buildings and everything else installed and provided. But if the teacher is not taught, or does not have the skills, the right knowledge to impart or does not know how to impart the knowledge he has, then all that investment will come to nothing.

So here in Bayelsa, we have a robust program of working with the teachers, encouraging and supporting them, giving them the right

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 212 skills that they need. For you all teachers that are here, let me repeat what I told you all last time I addressed you that for us in this government, you are the most important section of our public workforce, you are the most important workers we have because it is only by working with you that we can realize our dream and aspirations for a beer and prosperous and secured tomorrow for the state. And so I want to commend you all for what you are doing and I have instructed the Ministry of Education to work out the date when I will have the honor of siing and having dinner with you all in this state and going forward, for me, that should be a yearly event; honorable commissioner take note. Our head masters and principals need to know that they mean so much to us. I look forward to that inaugural dinner so that you will have a sense of your own importance and the importance of the job that you are to do.

Now we are building as you all know, the teachers training institute which is a department of the College of Education that is now geing ready for real business. We are working with the Canadians, the Canadian Ambassador as you know was here and we have signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a group from Canada and let me also commend them for that partnership. Working with all our friends and partners, we intend to have that as a world class teachers training facility.

Now, the commissioner has told me what we are doing by providing 400 new primary schools across the length and breadth of this great state. Most of them are almost completed. We have also started the construction of about 400 teachers quarters for the ﬁrst time because we do not want to hear that teachers are posted to rural areas and they do not have accommodation. That is part of supporting you teachers to be the best you can be, that is real agents for change. So we are building 400 of those teacherʹs quarters and most of them are nearing completion.

Since we came on board, we have always paid WAEC, NECO and

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 213 JAMB fees for all our students in this state and that will be sustained going forward. I want the young people of this state to take advantage of all these new schools we are opening so that those who have what they call deficiencies can go there, take advantage of the facilities we have offered and remedy all those “so called deficiencies” and compete for places in the tertiary system.

We have also reinvigorated by policy and deliberate investment, the College of Education which in the next couple of months you will now see as one of the best Colleges of Education in this country at Sagbama. Now you know, as part of my campaign promises, we said we are going to construct eight model secondary schools with modern facilities and boarding. But when I came in and saw the rot in the system, we felt we should do more. So right now, not only are we working on the eight model secondary schools some of which will be ready before September, we are actually constructing more secondary schools with boarding facilities and I want to thank the Honorable speaker and members of the house of Assembly for their understanding in channeling their constituency projects to fund education for last year and for this year. And as a result of that understanding and partnership, we are presently constructing, working with the House of Assembly, twentyﬁve new constituency secondary schools with boarding facilities.

Going forward, gentlemen in this state, as soon as those schools are completed by September, I hope, secondary school education will primarily be by boarding schools. We will go back to those days when we had good boarding schools because from the advice and outcome of commiees and specialist agencies that I consulted, I have now come to appreciate that part of the problem is that we are not incubating these young minds enough. We are not keeping them together and supervising them enough, we are not concentrating the available manpower that we have enough, we are not deploying our resources

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 214 the way we ought to. And therefore, secondary education in this state going forward is generally going to be in boarding schools. And to underscore our commitment to funding education, by September when those constituency secondary schools would have started, we will start with compulsory senior secondary education as boarding.

All senior secondary students in Bayelsa from September will be in those constituency secondary schools. And this is the good news: no boarding fees will be paid! The government of Bayelsa state will take responsibility for their training, feeding and maintenance. I am aware that this is a revolutionary step.

I was told that I should exercise caution on this issue of free education even before I announced it during my inaugural. I was advised privately and publicly and my answer then and now remains the same: education, that is human capacity development, is the single most important challenge facing our generation. And there are really two clear options: it is either we build prisons or remand homes everywhere to prepare for the consequence of the inadequate investment in education or we build schools.

And in this state, we have chosen to build schools and that is why our restoration policy on transparent management of resources our focus on prudence are important because the loopholes that bleed us dry, the corrupt practices that take place in the small and big oﬃces that make us lose all the resources that we have is the problem we must address. The solution is not to cut down on our investment on our future which we will not accept anyway.

Our massive investment in education is on course. Today if you go to St. Judeʹs, which is probably one of the oldest girlʹs schools in this state, you will see the investment going on there. And the students from St. Judeʹs, I want to thank you because I have heard a lot about the good work that is going on there. We want St. Judeʹs to go back to the dreams

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 215 of its founding fathers, St. Judeʹs has to be brought up to a level where it will play its role as the leading girlʹs training institute in this state.

In addition to these schools, we are also establishing two special schools: the ﬁrst is the gied and talented children school sited at Otuoke and is a tribute to my leader and elder brother, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria who had that idea when he was Governor and I had the honor of serving as the Aorney General at that time. We are bringing back the school there and I believe that the contractor by now ought to have moved to site because we have since mobilized them. That school will take care of our talented and gied young people and give them the advantage of education and exposure in areas beyond academics so that we can produce world class artists, entertainers and so on. Already we have many of them of course; people like Timi Dakolu, Dakore Egbuson, and we know that we have such talents in abundance in this state. So what we want to do is develop them here at Otuoke.

The second one is the Izionibe National College which is going to be a school where we teach our young people not just our culture and history, but we also prepare them for leadership. That secondary school which will be boarding just like the Gied and Talented School will be in the community called ToruOrua. Contract has been awarded, mobilization made. So when I said during my campaign and at my inaugural that it was going to be ʹeducation, education, educationʹ this is what I meant and we are actually having ʹeducation, educationʹ and yet more education coming your way.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 216 I was told that I should exercise caution on this issue of free education even before I announced it during my inaugural. I was advised privately and publicly and my answer then and now remains the same: education, that is human capacity development, is the single most important challenge facing our generation. And there are really two clear options: it is either we build prisons or remand homes everywhere to prepare for the consequence of the inadequate investment in education or we build schools.

We have sent 250 of our young pupils to various leading private institutions, private secondary schools, top range. This year, we will select another number to add to it. That was a program started by our President. But by the time we have invested in these our schools and our schools are of high standard and are completed, we intend to now select the very best amongst our young people and train them here. And I am looking forward to that day when I will, as Governor, lead other worthy leaders of this state and country and our friends who visit us to go and talk to the young people and motivate them. I cannot wait for when those schools will be completed.

And so this is a clarion call to all our contractors and partners handling these projects that this is a passion for me, this is serious. I am not prepared to play politics with our development as I have said several times; I am not prepared to play politics with education, not prepared to play politics with our security as you all know. So for those who are handling these projects please failure and delay are not options in this maer. I want these schools to be completed in record time so when our friends come visiting we want to take them round to all these schools and talk to these our young boys and girls because presently what has

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 217 happened in our country is that as a result of severe decay and insuﬃcient investment in education we are not quite sure whether we are training human beings or people who are slightly beer than animals or lower than animal level. So whether it is social unrest or insurgence in every part of this country if you look at it closely, the main cause is insuﬃcient investment in education and this is what we want to address.

We want to stop a situation where in this state our young people do not have role models to look up to or the role models they have are people who carry AK47 riﬂes; that is very dangerous not just for this state and this country but it is dangerous for humanity, it is dangerous for our world. For our world to be safe, for our world to be prosperous, all of us leaders and stakeholders must join hands to ﬁght the bale of education and give skills with which these young people can live their lives in an increasingly competitive environment.

In addition to all these schools, and more schools are coming, very soon we will have the tourism and catering school here to prepare our state for the expected boom in tourism. We are going to have the school of agriculture so that we can prepare middle level, competent agricultural practitioners. Three weeks ago, here in this hall we assembled to send oﬀ 500 young people to undergo agricultural training programs in Benin Republic. Now when the school of agriculture is ﬁnished, we want to do the training here. So under this restoration government, it is going to be school, school, school, education, education, education. And we believe that is the surest way of laying the foundation for a prosperous and safe Bayelsa and Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Today, I want to specially recognize and honor our brother who sent a message to me. I had not seen him before until last week. I didnʹt know he existed, he has never been a contractor in this state. He sent a word to me that he has read and heard about our modest eﬀort in broadening the frontiers of knowledge and that he wants to support us by donating

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 218 1000 bags and other items. I would like us to give him a round of applause as a way of appreciation. Thank you very much on behalf of the government and good people of Bayelsa State. We appreciate your kind gesture. What you have done not only demonstrates that you are a good Nigerian but let me also pronounce you a good Bayelsan this aernoon.

Today we have about 100,000 pairs of various school uniforms. Let me make it clear that we have adopted these uniforms as the only approved uniforms in our schools. This does not apply to private schools. nursery, primary or secondary. But for public schools, these are the approved uniforms. We are not only prescribing it but we are also providing it. Today, as part of this ceremony, I have directed that the sum of N5, 000,000 for six Local Governments be handed over to the Chairmen of the various councils for them to use in providing these uniforms for the several others who will not get because we have only 100,000 pairs to give out now. We have another 100,000 on the way. But before those ones come, we are giving ﬁve million naira to the six local government areas to engage, as part of our empowerment program, competent tailors in your local government areas, to now go to all these communities and begin the process of providing these uniforms for our students and pupils. Two other local governments will get N10, 000,000 each because of their population. The enrolment in those local government areas is far higher. Yenagoa and Southern Ijaw Local Government areas will get N10, 000, 000 each. All the other local governments will get N5, 000, 000 each. This is only the ﬁrst instalment.

Now there are also textbooks and note books. In this state free education is not just about providing school uniforms, bags and sandals. We do not want you to pay school fees, external exams, WAEC, NECO and JAMB fees. We will pay and we will continue to do so. Even the cost of science education, practicals and so on, this state pays for. Parents and guardians do not pay.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 219 Presentation of School. Uniforms etc

I want to also commend the partnership that our government has enjoyed from a great Nigerian and now a friend of Bayelsa. Well, I will pronounce him a Bayelsan when he tells me the donation of books he is going to make. I know it is coming, but it has not come. He is a very good friend, Dr. Yemi Ogunbiyi whose company has the contract of providing the textbooks for primary schools that we are distributing today. All kinds of books that we need for primary education, he is providing them.

This aernoon, we are going to sign another contract with Dr. Ogunbiyi and his company of about N500, 000, 000 to provide text books for secondary schools in this state. And upon signing, we are going to provide a down payment of N250, 000, 000 which is 50% so that within a very short period of time, books for secondary school will be ready and distributed.

Now, my dear good people of Bayelsa State, you have seen our commitment to our future. You are the future of our state, the future of Ijaw nation, you are the future of Nigeria. And what we are doing is to

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 220 midwife that future, equip you with the skills you need to navigate your way in life and contribute your quota to the development of our state, nation and for your own self development. You are seeing our commitment amply demonstrated over and over again. We have done ours; the rest is yours.

I like to enjoin you all to respect constituted authorities. That is where it all begins. I want to use this opportunity as I have always done to urge you to shun all negative behaviour such as cultism, drug addiction and abuse, prostitution, whatever and focus on your bright future. As long as you do your part, we here will do our part, work with your teachers, support them. Encourage your parents and you can be sure your future is assured. And you will agree with me when I said at my inaugural that aer my tenure, this state and the Ijaw nation will never be the same again. We all have our roles to play in the revolution going on in this state. A number of people stay out and do not know what is going on here because we are not playing politics. But by the time all these things begin to bear fruit, the new Bayelsa would have emerged and that is the new Bayelsa we invite all of you to partake in as we lay the foundation today.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 221 THE STATE OF BAYELSA TODAY: OUR GREAT LEAP FORWARD

Address delivered to the national executive commiee meeting of the Nigerian Bar Association in Yenagoa, on June 6, 2013

On behalf of the government and good people of Bayelsa State, it is my honour and privilege to very warmly welcome you to Bayelsa, the Glory of all Lands and Jerusalem of all Ijaw people.

As a member of the Bar, a former member of the National Executive Commiee (NEC) representing Bayelsa State and one time Aorney General of this State, I take particular delight in welcoming you all to this NEC meeting holding in our great state at this time when I am Governor.

For me, your visit at this time is a source of strength, encouragement and solidarity. I want to thank the President and members of NEC for the decision to hold this very important meeting of the highest decision making organ of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) here in Yenagoa.

Let me also use this opportunity to thank members of the Bar generally for their prayers and support throughout my tough electioneering campaign and the aendant litigations. I am not aware of any politician

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 222 GOV SERIAKE DICKSON (2ND L), THEN NBA PRESIDENT OKEY WALI (L), FMR NBA PRESIDENT, OCJ OKOCHA (3RD R), & OTHERS @ THE NATL. EXEC. COMMITTEE OF NBA @ ĲAW HOUSE, YENAGOA.

in Nigeria today, who has had to contend with the number and type of cases that I had in the buildup to my elections and thereaer, even up until now. Through it all, I must admit that members of the Bar stood by me resolutely. For this, I am truly grateful.

I also wish to place on record my immense gratitude to the judiciary at all levels for being steadfast in upholding the tenets of justice. That I am Governor today is an eloquent testimony of the capacity and maturity of our judiciary as an apolitical arbiter in a political process. My nomination and elections went through the judicial system up to the Supreme Court in two diﬀerent instances, both of which are well documented in the law reports. And in both instances, I emerged victorious. There are still several pending litigations making their way through the judicial process and one even came up this morning even aer the Supreme Court had ruled on the issues twice. I want to call on the Bar to devise ways by which our judiciary is insulated from cases which raise mere political questions that is, disputes where the issues and solutions are essentially political and where legal redress may be tantamount to usurpation of the powers and function of the pertinent

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 223 political actors. I also want to call on the Bar to support the eﬀort of the current Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN) in sanitizing and repositioning the judiciary to strengthen its credibility.

Let me further place on record my appreciation to the NBA for the commendation given to me and the then Governor of Bayelsa State, now President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, His Excellency Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, in appreciation for the decision we took while I was the Aorney General of this State in 2006, in ensuring that legal practitioners exclusively undertake the prosecution of cases in magistrate courts and other courts in the state. To implement this policy, the then Governor approved my proposal to employ and deploy over 30 young lawyers to take over the prosecution of cases in all magistrate courts in the state.

In the last one year and four months I have been Governor we have unfolded an ambitious agenda of development, security and prosperity appropriately called The Restoration Agenda. This entails the provision of adequate security, law and order as sine qua non for development; massive investment in human capacity development through the declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector; upgrading and development of critical infrastructure to provide the basis for our industrialization; diversiﬁcation of the economic base of the state through the promotion of tourism and agriculture; aracting investment through the Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC); reform of the governance culture by promoting transparency, accountability and prudence as well as strengthening the judiciary as a truly independent arm of government.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 224 In the last one year and four months I have been Governor we have unfolded an ambitious agenda of development, security and prosperity appropriately called The Restoration Agenda. This entails the provision of adequate security, law and order as sine qua non for development; massive investment in human capacity development through the declaration of a state of emergency in the education sector; upgrading and development of critical infrastructure to provide the basis for our industrialization; diversiﬁcation of the economic base of the state through the promotion of tourism and agriculture; aracting investment through the Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC); reform of the governance culture by promoting transparency, accountability and prudence as well as strengthening the judiciary as a truly independent arm of government.

Having had the privilege of being a member of the Bar as well as AorneyGeneral of the state and now Governor, coupled with our governmentʹs commitment to build institutions rather than personal power, we took the initiative to create legal backing for the autonomy of the judiciary so that it would not be overruled by any administrative ﬁat in future. By virtue of my background as a lawyer, I believe I have been in a beer position to provide the requirements of the Judiciary towards improving the delivery of justice in the state.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 225 it indeed, helped to give clear expression to the confidence in the third arm of government to manage its affairs, especially in financial maers in line with the rules of the public service.

This move by our government for a truly independent judicial arm of government, we believe is critical as it is the last hope of the common man.

Furthermore, it is my belief that our democracy is not safe and cannot be secured; even our civil rights cannot be protected unless we strengthen our judiciary which alone has the constitutional authority to deepen our freedoms and protect our fundamental liberties.

With the signing into law of the Bayelsa State Judiciary Autonomy Bill 2012, which again turned out to be the first by any state government, there signalled a new dawn in the history of the judiciary in Nigeria and it indeed, helped to give clear expression to the confidence in the third arm of government to manage its affairs, especially in financial maers in line with the rules of the public service.

Beyond ensuring that the judiciary in the state enjoys full autonomy and remains selfaccounting, we have also embarked on the construction of multidoor courts and made substantial investment in prisons and purchase of vehicles for the prison service to demonstrate our commitment to the pursuit of justice.

With the hard work and commitment of the security personnel and the cooperation of the people of this state, we have been able to transform Yenagoa and Bayelsa State from the chaotic state of lawlessness, violence and criminality we met it into the haven of peace that they

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 226 have now become to which you are all witnesses.

I want to thank the security agencies and our citizens in particular for Operation Doo Akpo, meaning peaceful life, which has become a household name in Bayelsa State. Let it be known that the response time of Operation Doo Akpo, is like what obtains in advanced countries, and ranges from one to three minutes from the moment a distress call is received. In addition to law enforcement, Operation Doo Akpo renders social services by conveying victims of accidents, sick and pregnant women to hospital and providing other forms of support to vulnerable persons in the course of their work. They have indeed become friends and ﬁrst line of support for people in distress.

As part of our ambitious security programme, several bills have been passed into law including those on secret cultism, prohibition of kidnapping, electronic surveillance etc. Pursuant to our resolve to make Bayelsa safe for investment and tourism, the state executive council has approved the award of a contract for camerabased surveillance system which contract will be signed between now and next week. These facilities will be in place in a maer of months. We have concluded plans to roll out the maritime component of Operation Doo Akpo. Accordingly, we have purchased gunboats for the security forces. We are presently rolling out statewide security communication to enable all service commanders have real time domain awareness in all parts of the state for optimal command and control. This also incorporates a modern security coordination center now being built as an annex to my oﬃce where I can also have real time brieﬁng on law and order situation in any part of the state. As you would expect, investments in these areas are sophisticated and expensive.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 227 With the hard work and commitment of the security personnel and the cooperation of the people of this state, we have been able to transform Yenagoa and Bayelsa State from the chaotic state of lawlessness, violence and criminality we met it into the haven of peace that they have now become to which you are all witnesses.

There is need for collaboration by all stakeholders especially the multinational corporations and other stakeholders. Accordingly, we have signed into law the state security trust fund, which provides a framework for collaboration and partnership by all. We intend to activate this mechanism very soon as I call on all stakeholders to be prepared to share not only the beneﬁts but also the obligations. The overall aim of these policies and investment is to make Bayelsa a crime free zone. This is the primary responsibility of every government.

In the area of human capacity development, our government declared a state of emergency in my inaugural address and followed it up with massive investment in the education sector. This I believe is the most compelling imperative of our time. For in vain, do we build the roads and bridges if we do not ﬁrst invest in our most important resource the human mind. Accordingly, we have spared no eﬀort and resource in this regard.

In one year we have built over 400 primary schools with teachersʹ quarters all across the state along with ultramodern, model secondary schools in each of the eight local government areas of the state with boarding facilities.

In addition, we have started construction of 26 constituency boarding secondary schools. We have also started the construction of two specialized schools for gied and talented children, one at Otuoke and

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 228 the Izon National College at ToruOrua while rebuilding the oldest girls school in the state, St. Judeʹs, Amarata. All these are model boarding schools with complete facilities. Boarding will be compulsory and free for all students. Our policy is that when these schools are completed, senior secondary education will be compulsorily boarding to allow educators enough time to incubate and prepare these young minds. And when these schools are completed, a number of deserving Nigerians will be invited to come and give talks to inspire the young minds as part of our mentorship programme.

On scholarships, we have unfolded a robust scholarship programme so that in one year we have over 100 PhD scholarships, almost 300 masters degree and several hundred undergraduate scholarships. We have also revived the secondary special scholarship program by which 250 bright pupils were given scholarships for learning in the leading private secondary schools in the country.

Knowing the place of teachers, we are presently constructing a teachers training institute and college of education to train and retrain our teachers. We reestablished BYCAS, a remedial school to give young people a second chance at tertiary education.

On health care, we are building referral health institutions in all LGAs. We are also constructing a model and international diagnostic center to promote medical tourism, in addition to the several health centers across the state. A few days ago in partnership with the Dora Akinyuli Foundation, we laid the foundation stone for the ﬁrst Drug mart in Africa where safe drugs will be warehoused, tested and distributed by the manufacturers. In another few days from now, I will sign into law, the Bayelsa State Health Services Scheme Law 2013. This is to increase access to aﬀordable healthcare services.

A cardinal premise of my campaign was the need for the reform of the governance culture as a necessary imperative for enhancing

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 229 performance in government and also deepening democracy. Accordingly, on assumption of oﬃce I sent an executive bill on transparency, which has since been passed into law. This law obliges me to make monthly declarations about the income and expenditure of the state. It provides that failure to do so amounts to gross misconduct and will be liable to dire consequences. It also compels the chairmen of LGAs to do so. I have since then kept faith with this law. Citizens of the state are now briefed on a monthly basis. This has increased the faith of citizens in the government. The transparency brieﬁng for last month should have held today but due to this conference will now hold tomorrow and I invite you all to this event. We also have in place the Bayelsa State Compulsory Savings law which requires us to save a given percentage of our revenue. Funds under this law can only be accessed by the approval of 2/ 3rd majority of the State Assembly.

I go on to talk about the diversiﬁcation of our economy, which informed the seing up of Bayelsa Development Investment Corporation (BDIC), to essentially drive investments, create skills and develop a robust economic base that can withstand the shock that will come the day aer oil. That is why our administration is serious about investing in agriculture and tourism, among others, as alternatives to oil and gas.

If the truth must be told, while government is building roads and bridges, schools and so on, in vain do we do all of this, if these activities do not translate to economic prosperity and opportunities for our people. To this end, the strategic vehicle we have designed to convey us to that destination of economic prosperity is the Bayelsa Development and Investment Corporation (BDIC). We will like the BDIC to turn Bayelsa to the Dubai of Africa and we can do it because we are a resilient and resourceful people.

In the area of infrastructure, we are embarking on massive construction of roads, bridges, airport and seaport as a basis for industrialization, wealth creation and job creation. Believing that our treasure lies in the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 230 ocean, we are hiing the Atlantic from three flanks and we have since commenced the construction of the three senatorial roads. In total we have already constructed over 350 km of roads, 15 bridges and over 50 public buildings, including four secretariat annexes, the ultra modern NYSC orientation camps, new commissioners quarters, deputy governorʹs lodge, visiting governorsʹ lodge and staff quarters at the Boro institute, two fly overs and dualization of over 18 roads within Yenagoa and outer ring roads.

CONSTRAINTS ON DEVELOPMENT

In the restoration government, we are not just known for saying the right words we are also known for doing the right things. However, the truth must be told that in our region, due to our peculiarly diﬃcult terrain, development takes a huge toll on our resources and takes plenty of time too. Whereas many are quick to raise the issue of the allocation that come to us by way of 13% derivation, they fail to understand the challenges that go with it. To construct a road here costs 10 times more than what you will ordinarily have.

For instance, since completing the designs for EkeremorAgge 58km road, we got 3 diﬀerent ﬁrms to quote for the construction. The least bid we got going by the preliminary designs provided, was N120 billion! That road is very critical to our development given the fact that the road is designed to enable us hit the Atlantic where our deepsea port will be sited and for which we have concluded the survey of over 15,000 hectares of land.

We have also reviewed the road from NembeBrass. The least cost for that road, which is 43km long is put at N83 billion! With the proposed LNG in Brass, it makes sense to involve private partnership in the construction of that road under a PPP arrangement, which will allow the investor to toll it upon completion. We are conﬁdent that our PPP

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 231 law, which is before the House of Assembly will be passed soon, so that we can ﬁrm up discussions with a number of investors that have already shown interest.

We are determined to conquer the socalled diﬃcult terrain and indeed we are working with the resources available. We have already started the clearing of the 38km road from Yenagoa to Oporoma at N31.2 billion that was abandoned several years ago and as we speak work is going on.

Similarly, the contract has also been awarded for the construction of the 42km ToruOrua to Ekeremor road at a cost of N30.5billion and clearing of that road is in progress as we speak.

It may seem like I am taking so much of your time to analyze the situation but the reason is just to let you know the challenges of development that we face in these parts. I am doing this to draw your aention to the grave injustice the people of the Niger Delta suﬀer as a result of the contradictions of the politics of the Nigerian state.

As you well know, oil was ﬁrst discovered here in Bayelsa State at Oloibiri in 1956, which is about 10 minutes drive from here. The ﬁrst oil well here, when you look at it, you will see that it presents a metaphor of what it is today and what it is likely to be tomorrow.

Prior to the discovery of oil, there was respect for the sacred, legal and constitutional ownership and title of land as belonging to the people whose ancestral home bears this resource. With oil being the mainstay of the federation, successive military governments passed several decrees into law, to which the people never made an input, to limit the exercise of their rights and privileges of ownership in a manner that is contrary to their will. The climax of this legislative tyranny were the Land Use Act, Petroleum Act and the constitution. For example, the Willink Commission was set up essentially to address the fears of the minorities whom they felt will become more aggravated when the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 232 restraints are removed as against people from the other parts of the country. These fears as expressed were genuine and portended great apprehension for the future.

It also recommended what has become chapter 4 of the constitution to protect the rights of the community. But chapter 4 gave rights to property, which included the ownership of land. It created a capitalist tendency and philosophy whereby those who own land do not own anything beneath or above it.

You have a contradiction of a situation where land, which is one of the factors of production and, probably some say the most important is the only factor of production that is communalized by the state, while all other factors of production remain in private hands.

What you call an oil bloc in Abuja, in Washington, in London is in fact the ancestral property of the people of the Niger Delta.

And so in a country where we have a constitution that is meant to protect our people like all other Nigerians, we still have contradictions within that constitutional framework and also expressed in several other legislations that are strictly speaking, expropriating the resources of our people.

I therefore call on the bar to lead the ﬁght for reestablishing the federal principles in line with our federal structure, where federating units should also have the right to exercise control and to seek greater participation of our people in an industry that more or less ought to be our own.

If you take a census of those who are doing business in the oil sector; who have oil wells and oil blocs and licenses to li oil, including those who do the mega businesses and deals in the oil companies, you will see that they do not have oﬃces here. The people of the oil producing areas are not involved so we end up creating wealth to our own detriment.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 233 Those who control our resources stay in mega cities and do the mega deals and carry out the mega businesses; they get richer, they become billionaires and end up creating more militants and disgruntled elements amongst us.

Some states smile to the bank in billions every month because of the taxes and levies paid by the companies and boosting the economies of such areas where they reside.

What you call an oil bloc in Abuja, in Washington, in London is in fact the ancestral property of the people of the Niger Delta.

We do not begrudge anybody for whatever they get; no that is not the point I am making. All I am saying is that while others are also beneﬁing we should also not be le out. I cannot frankly, think of anybody in Bayelsa who carries on big time businesses in both upstream and downstream sectors.

I am not saying that it is totally the fault of the oil companies and other stakeholders. What I am saying is that, what we have here is a scenario that is not acceptable, which we really need to improve upon.

That is why our clamour for resource control is not only legitimate, it is just and must be supported by all if we must make progress as a nation going forward.

It is on this note that I declare this NEC meeting open and I look forward to collaborating more with NEC and the NBA as a whole to see that at least, once in a while, once in every year, the government of Bayelsa State will work with you to host this kind of event.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 234 If you take a census of those who are doing business in the oil sector; who have oil wells and oil blocs and licenses to li oil, including those who do the mega businesses and deals in the oil companies, you will see that they do not have oﬃces here. The people of the oil producing areas are not involved so we end up creating wealth to our own detriment. Those who control our resources stay in mega cities and do the mega deals and carry out the mega businesses; they get richer, they become billionaires and end up creating more militants and disgruntled elements amongst us.

I hope and trust that you will have a frank and robust and highly rewarding conference and at the end of the day, the legal profession and the entire nation will be beer for it. Thank you and God bless you all.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 235 HONOURING BAYELSA’S BIRTH

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 236 BAYELSA IS RISING AGAIN

Text of the radio broadcast to commemorate the 16th anniversary of the creation of Bayelsa State.

My good people of Bayelsa State, It is with pride and great joy that I address you on a day like this to felicitate with you all on the occasion of our 16th anniversary as a state, following its creation on the 1st of October, 1996.

I would like to commence this broadcast by commending you on our shared vision and commitment to a new Bayelsa and also thank you for your support, solidarity and the prayers our administration has enjoyed since assumption of oﬃce in the last six months.

It is also proper to remember on a day like this the founding fathers of our state and all our leaders past and present for their years of sacriﬁce, commitment and valuable service and contributions to the peace and progress of the Ijaw nation.

Today marks exactly 16 years since we began this journey of statehood. As a product of the Ijaw struggle, I understand the impact of the decision made by the late Gen Sani Abacha in creating Bayelsa against

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 236 BAYELSA STATE GOVERNOR, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON (2ND LEFT) SUPPORTED HIS DEPUTY, REAR ADMIRAL GBORIBIOGHA JOHN JONAH RTD, (RIGHT) UNVEILING THE STATE LOGO AS PART OF ACTIVITIES TO MARK NIGERIA AT 52/BAYELSA AT 16 ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS IN YENAGOA, WHILE THE COMMISSIONER OF ĲAW NATIONAL AFFAIRS, DR. FELIX TEODOLO (2NDRIGHT) LOOK ON.

all odds. General Abacha was one leader who loved Nigeria and the Ijaw nation and had the courage to do what was right by giving the Ijaws a homogenous state that today we all can proudly and truly call our own which I refer to as the Jerusalem of all Ijaw people.

Irrespective of the opinion people may hold of him (which is their legitimate right), General Abacha by virtue of the creation of the homogenous state of the Ijaw nation, has earned a place in the heart of the Ijaw people for which we are eternally grateful.

In appreciation of the signiﬁcant steps General Abacha took for our development, I have on your behalf invited the family to be part of this celebration, no maer how low key it is. The Bayelsa State Government would therefore use this occasion to further immortalize the memory of the late General Abacha and show to his family, friends and all Nigerians at large that we do not forget our friends. It is also a way to demonstrate a peculiar trait, common among the Ijaw people that we always value loyalty and reward friendship. To this end, government would lay the foundation stone for a 150duplex housing estate named aer General Abacha. Similarly, government in partnership with the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 237 Ijaw National Congress has named the main auditorium of the INC building aer him. In addition, government will invite the family to plant a memorial tree in his honour at the Heroes Garden, which I have just established.

By this singular gesture, let the family be assured that our thoughts and prayers have been and will always be with them and that they can always call Bayelsa their home too.

In the same vein, we recognize and are indebted to worthy Nigerian leaders like President Olusegun Obasanjo and the late President Umaru YarʹAdua and others whose actions have impacted positively on us. Government will honour them in due course.

Special mention must be made of the leader, Chief DSP Alamaeyesigha, the ﬁrst civilian governor of the state whose commitment to the Ijaw struggle and development of Bayelsa State would also be honoured by naming a hall in the INC building aer him. Incidentally, the INC building was started by Chief DSP Alamaeyiesigha but was abandoned by the immediate past administration, but which we have now completed and fully furnished.

Bayelsa State, no doubt, is still relatively young and the journey of statehood tough but there is great hope that the future is very bright.

It is this conviction that has propelled our vision as a government and with your support we shall march ahead to properly connect with our future greatness as we desire it. We have made spirited eﬀorts to redeﬁne governance as a tool for development, raising hopes of even greater possibilities.

In the last six months, you have witnessed a paradigm shi in governance, accelerated infrastructural development and revolutionary investments in human capacity building. You have also witnessed the return of peace and tranquility in our state which is

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 238 essential to any development. We pledge to continue with our current rate of development and to demonstrate the reality that the foundation of our future greatness must be laid today, not later. We are indeed making progress and Bayelsa is beginning to rise again.

Good people of our great state, this occasion marking the 16th anniversary of our dear state ordinarily should have called for celebrations and jubilation, but we took the decision as a government to have a lowkey event. It is only proper that we align ourselves with the mood of the nation.

At this juncture, I would like to sympathize with all the communities ravaged by flood in the state. As you will recall, our government took early steps to address the issue of blocked drainages in Yenagoa metropolis. That significantly prevented a disaster in our state capital despite the down pour and flood.

However, the same cannot be said of communities outside of the state capital, where rising water levels has displaced people from their homes, farmlands and businesses. I want to seize this opportunity to empathize with them. In the course of the week, I will personally undertake an onthespot assessment of all the affected communities ravaged by flood. Already, as you are aware, government has directed that relief materials be made available to the affected persons and communities. More support will come your way once the commiee that government will soon inaugurate swings into action and makes its findings available.

My good people, I also want to urge all of us to be steadfast in our prayers for our President, his wife, family and the Federal Government of Nigeria. Let us continue to uphold them in our prayers. Having said that, let me at this point take a moment to commend and salute our President for his commitment, sacriﬁce and selﬂess service to this great nation. In the face of daunting challenges, he has continued to lead as a

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 239 distinguished patriot and nationalist, ensuring that prosperity and security return to our nation, and that Nigeria, like Bayelsa rises again!

As I round oﬀ this broadcast, let me once again, seize this occasion to assure all Bayelsans of our governmentʹs commitment and resolve to birth a new Bayelsa of our dream,a new Bayelsa where everyone will have a true sense of pride and be made to feel the impact of government. We are building a new Bayelsa ﬁrmly rooted and anchored on the cardinal principles of transparency, accountability and service delivery as evident in our conduct of government business this past six months.

As we undertake the onerous task of providing purposeful leadership for our dear state in accordance with the mandate which you gave to us, I want to assure you yet again that this government under my watch will not compromise on our leadership principles and ethics. We shall not play politics with our development and Bayelsa will not be the same again by the end of my tenure.

Let me restate that we will use the resources of this state to fund critical projects such as the construction of good roads, education, health facilities, promote tourism, generate wealth and develop agriculture, rather than use it to fund the corruption and greed of a few.

I will like to use the opportunity of this address to thank and urge all religious, political, traditional and opinion leaders, to rise above personal interest and galvanize our people to support the various programmes of government.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 240 My dear people, now that you have a government that has a clear vision, understanding of your opportunities, potentials, challenges and solutions for what need to be done in every sector, all that is required of you, is your continued support and prayers.

Let me also urge all Bayelsans not to be misled by the antics of desperate politicians and power seekers bent on distracting us in order to impede our progress. We will not be distracted and Bayelsa will be the beer for it.

I therefore urge you all to shun politics of character assassination, blackmail and rumour mongering. Let us join hands to liberate ourselves from all forms of negativity capable of halting our progress and development and to continue the good work of supporting the security agencies in our bid to make Bayelsa safe, secure and prosperous. Bayelsa is rising again and I thank you all.

God bless you.

Happy 16th anniversary

Long Live BAYELSA State!

Long Live the Ijaw nation!!

Long Live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!!!

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 241 THANKSGIVING: THE HAND OF GOD

Remarks at a special thanksgiving service at the King of Glory Chapel in Government House, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State

I want to thank you all for honouring our invitation. Let me say that my life has been a mystery even to me and a lot of people who know me. I cannot understand why certain things have happened the way they have, beginning with bales and challenges that I faced growing up.

For those who knew my father, he believed so much in himself and was a brilliant and hard working man with strict moral values. At the time I was growing up, his business appeared to have taken a turn for the worse. He had several members of the family to cater for, wives and children. By the way he le over 35 of us when he died at 87 years. He taught us traditional values. I was 20 years old before I had the opportunity to leave my community.

Let me give you one instance so that you will know why in most days when I wake up, I go for prayers and thank God. I am very convinced that there has been some guiding hand shaping my destiny given the environment I was born into. You will not understand until you get to my community. I was raised, went to school in my community did my

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 242 Governor Seriake Dickson leading the congregation with his tambourine during the 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Day celebration

secondary school in my local government and joined the Nigeria Police as a constable which meant a lot to me. When I was in class 4 going to 5, my father had 5 of us boys in diﬀerent secondary schools. He called me up one night and he said to me, “You know your school is resuming 2 weeks from now but I have taken a decision. This term, I only have money for two of you. I am aware that you are probably the most promising. I am happy and proud of you but you see you are the youngest and I as your father will have to take a decision that is fair. Your older ones will have to go back to school ﬁrst.”

Somehow he found a way to break the news to my mother as I am her ﬁrstborn child. She had me when she was a teenager so we practically grew up together; she was 17 going on 18 years when she had me. She cried; there was nothing she could do, she did not have an income. The only thing we used to do was subsistence farming. Now the time for resumption of school came and all my friends went back but I did not know that the principal and my teachers had concluded an arrangement to make me a senior prefect on my return. When they did not see me they assumed that some rich uncle of mine had taken me to a beer school but unknown to them I was in my community. I went to the forest with my dad.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 243 Then there was nothing a young man could do in my community that I did not do. I engaged in fishing, sold fish and le some to assist my parents. My mother woke me up one day as all the women used to do to go fishing. These women would wake up about one or two in the morning with their small fishing nets and go for fishing and come back about five or six in the morning. That is why I am very passionate about the need to empower our women and that has not changed. These women would lose their sleep as my mother used to do night aer night. My mother did not even have a canoe so she would have to borrow.

One fateful night, my mother went ﬁshing with some group of women. At this time, I had spent about one month at home without going to school so I almost lost half of the term. This one night saw something ﬂoating towards her. She was scared but behold they turned out to be drums of diesel. She could not carry them ashore on her own so she called out to one of her friends to assist her.

As she got home she told my father about the drums. My father was a very strict man with high moral values. He then went and secured them but told her that while she had done well, the drums of diesel did not belong to her and that the owner would come one day. He reported the maer to the chairman of the community.

This was a man who did not have money, which should give you an idea of the environment in which I was raised and then a week or so aer, the owners came all the way from Sagbama.

What really happened was that somebody was conveying diesel, and with the heavy rains at the time, the diesel drums just fell into the river.

The owner of the diesel came to our community looking for them and my father handed them to him saying he should take them. The man was shocked and out of appreciation gave my mother N80. My father advised my mother to share the money with her friend who assisted her

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 244 with the drums that night.

That night, my mother called me and said to me, “My son, tomorrow, you are going back to school.” But it was already mid term. My dad now said he would ﬁnd out if admission was still valid, but if not, they would ﬁnd a school close to the community.

So I went back to school and before I knew what was happening, the head prefect was removed and I was made house prefect as well as the deputy senior prefect. There was no good secondary school around except Federal Government College, Ughelli. The only place we could manage was Edo College but there was nobody to support me so I took a decision to engage in farming in my village.

When I le my community, one of my friends introduced me to become a bus conductor. Before I knew what was happening, Navy recruitment came the same time we had the recruitment for Police and I joined the Police and with my 5 credits went for basic course.

They identiﬁed me as perhaps somebody that could be supported, right there at Orji River, and one of the instructors wanted me to work with him in a place called, Ogbulafor. It was posting reserved for people who had done their time in training school. I used to wash his Beetle and take care of his family. Recently, he retired as Assistant Commissioner and he came to see me with his wife. When we were passing out, the Commandant came and said, ʹwe do not want anybody to inﬂuence postingsʹ. Now that was the time of “Anini the Law.” So on that day, all of us were called. Number 142137 PC SERIAKE DICKSON was bellowed out. The posting was done by ballot and that was how I got posted to Central Police Station, Rivers State headquarters, which was number one division. You can see the hand of God working. If they had posted me to a local area goodness knows how things would have turned out.

Those days every week, they must have a lecture on current issues such

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 245 as crime and political developments with the Divisional Police Officer and his officers in aendance. In such interactions, they discovered that I was a very sharp boy. Somehow somebody just identified me and they removed a senior NCO, who was a clerk to the station officer and put me, a rookie just fresh from Police College, saying I was the new station officerʹs clerk. The duties of a station officerʹs clerk involved administrative work like posting and other routine things and reports to the DPO. I was in charge of posting everybody including the DPO himself.

So that was how God positioned me there. Now why I am telling this story is to show how God made it possible for me to go to school. Because of that I could inﬂuence my own posting.

I am not the one to post myself to go and do night duty for Godʹs sake or to mount roadblock. And we learnt to survive through other legitimate ways.

In those days banks were applying for Police escorts and every such movement, they will pay us N5, which was a lot of money at that time. And a percentage went to the Police Welfare Fund and the oﬃcers involved which was legitimate. I had to do thri savings with ten of my colleagues and managed my resources very well. So this management of money and prudence did not start in Bayelsa.

Now I decided to go to school since I was the pay clerk. And I was doing this on a yearly basis such that I started to aend JAMB classes and prepared for JAMB.

I took JAMB that year. They gave me Political Science and I did not like it so the following year, I sat for JAMB and gained admission full time to study Law in the Rivers State University of Science and Technology.

If God did not make it possible for me to come to Port Harcourt, if I had gone to Ogbulafor, to be a traﬃc man and looking at lorries passing and pursuing lorry drivers, it could have been a diﬀerent story but God

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 246 programmed everything. God removed me from the crowd to be in the oﬃce; the most junior but then the boss. From there, when the result came, there was jubilation in the station.

I was paid about N4000 at that time. I now told my DPO. He said the Force regulation says if you are not on study leave, you have to resign and I said this is my leer. He said no, you are an oﬃcer material, we will not allow you to go. Are you sure if we give you night duty you will still be able to go to school? I said why not?

At that time three or four oﬃcers will come and see you and sign on your notebook and also report when they get back to the station. And they posted me to Radio Rivers FM Station where you had lights all the time and where you are not alone.

I was reporting for duty at 6pm and I did that for 4 years and God used that to make it possible for me to educate myself. I was always going late to my morning lectures and I was in a oneroom apartment in CPS barracks with my younger ones of about four or ﬁve years and they grew up with me and I managed to get through university.

Aer the university, God touched the Police Force and they gave me study leave with pay. When I finished Law school, the Police Force wanted me to start Cadet career because they considered me an officer material. I did not want to go because when I became a lawyer my mind was made up to practice Law and be a lecturer. As to my involvement in politics, everybody knows that I was the least political in our set but somehow one thing led to another and because of my fundamental beliefs, I went to the leist party, AD, from there I came to PDP and God got me involved with a new set of friends: Dr. Goodluck Jonathan as Governor then who is now President and King A.J Turner, Obigbo Mikimiki and we started a new movement. I became Aorney General when Dr. Jonathan became Governor from nowhere and he did not even tell me. Two decisions that I have taken in my life, that up until now I do not understand: first was the decision to resign from the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 247 Nigeria Police as a Cadet Oﬃcer. Everybody thought I was privileged to be there, a young man from Toru Orua with no connection. At 28 years I was a Cadet Oﬃcer and yet something kept pushing me that this was not my destiny.

And one fateful day, I wrote and even borrowed money and wrote for voluntary withdrawal of service, I was paid three months of my basic salary and I le.

Then came the decision to resign from Dr. Jonathanʹs government as Aorney General and Commissioner for Justice to contest an election to the Federal House of Representatives, which was the most hotly contested seat. Senator Heineken Lokpobiri was one of the contestants and ended up winning the ticket and election. He was one of my opponents in that election. None of us knew that Dr. Jonathan would be taken away to Abuja.

I spoke to Obigbo Mikimiki and he said, “this is our work. You are going to abandon us; for what now?” Then I was just working for the system and I had had to resign to run for senate: They now took a decision aer conceding for balance the senate ticket to the other political tendency that brought Senator Lokpobiri. As Dr. Jonathan had said, ʹwell, if you try and it did not work, we would reserve the oﬃce for you.ʹ That was the type of conﬁdence and brotherly support he gave me.

So it was when the names I submied for consideration were rejected that they now called me and my brother from another mother, Obigbo Mikimiki, persuaded me to run for the House of Representatives saying, “whether you like it or not, we will write your name.”

So I was conscripted, went for the general elections and became a member of the House and that exposed me to the complexities of politics at the national level and contradictions and potentials of our great country.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 248 I was House Commiee Chairman on Justice. I tried my best to represent my constituency. The point I am making now is that you all in this state are witnesses to the trial and tribulations that I went through while I was in the House of Representatives, especially towards the end of my tenure.

You all know, I am probably one person who faced a Commission of Inquiry, warrant of arrest and a calculated aempt by all organs of state to cripple me politically, malign me, to destroy whatever I stood for; all of that was in the name of politics.

But just as Apostle Zilly Aggrey said, when God has destined something, no man can change it. You all know what I went through to get my renomination ticket, when I was doing my best for our people; there was no arsenal that was not used against me.

God used people like Mikimiki and other men and women of goodwill and I won back my ticket. That was all I wanted. I am not an ambitious person and you know aer the election, even at the risk of my being misunderstood by my own political tendency, I accompanied my predecessor, former Governor Timipre Sylva to buy his nomination form for governorship of this state to come and be governor for four more years.

I just wanted to go back to the House for a second term but there was nothing that they did not do to humiliate me and destroy me politically.

INEC now said the primaries conducted earlier, should be re conducted and the then governor even went to court. I did not go to court; it was the governor at that time that went to court to say that their election was not due at that time. You see how God works in a mysterious way.

I did not know that it was God who was seing the stage. They fought me. They even sponsored somebody who was going to be my campaign manager and who le my house on Sunday and by Monday bought the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 249 nomination form to contest against me and that was the candidate of the system.

But I won and went to the House of Representatives and was still willing to support the system because we wanted a united Bayelsa to support the President. That was our concern at that point in time and not personal ambition.

But the powers that be in the state were circulating malicious text messages about me and I got angry and I called some of their aides and told them, “Tell your boss that you people have asked for a ﬁght and now I will give it to you.ʹʹ I picked up the gauntlet.

At that point, King Turner had asked me to make a decision so I told him to give me one week and that I would get back to him. I prayed. My wife did not know what was going on so I called her and told her about my decision to run for the oﬃce of governor.

I went to my allies in the system and you all saw what happened and all that is history now. You all in this state are witnesses to the type of politics we played. It was politics without violence and brigandage, even when we were confronting people who had that as their stock in trade.

You all know how we went round this state campaigning and nobody had a scratch. We went to Brass and even Okpoama, my predecessorʹs hometown and campaigned successfully. I am thanking God today and, I want to express my profound gratitude to leaders of our party for supporting our peaceful campaign and election. I said I would embark on a thank you tour. I decided not to do it until I have thanked God in a special way.

God raised me up from a humble background and this is why I always tell people, if power is said to come from north, south, east or west, it is a lie. I stand here before this altar to proclaim the majesty of God. My life and what God has used me to do is a testimony of God alone. These

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 250 feeble knees of mine have never bent and will never bend to any other thing but God Almighty.

I do not know how to even serve Almighty God the way I should but I acknowledge his majesty and the wonders He has done in my life. You have seen in the past one year and two months, the unprecedented developments and the existing peace.

I have enjoyed the support of our kings and traditional rulers; the churches also supported us spiritually. We dedicated our state to God. We are looking forward to the second anniversary celebration on November 2nd. Our state has been dedicated to God and it shall remain so.

To our youths, I want you to know that if I was not overwhelmed by circumstances around me, you too should not give up. And if you work hard and play by the rules, remain faithful, loyal to your ideals and friends, because life is about loyalty, and to your God, the sky will be your limit.

God Almighty who has seen me through several hurdles, seen and unseen, court cases that I have had to contend with; already two cases have gone to the Supreme court and I did not ﬁght to get this and yet even as we were confronting a siing system, God gave us victory.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 251 RL; GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON, HIS WIFE, RACHAEL AND HIS MOTHER, MADAM GOLDCOAST DICKSON DURING THE 2012 EASTER DAY SERVICE AT TORU ORUA CHRISTIAN CENTRE

My brothers and sisters, how else can we thank God? Let God also accept our thanksgiving today; thank you all for being here. May God continue to take this state to greater heights and may God continue to prosper you.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 252 TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN MUCH IS EXPECTED

Remarks at the presentation of cheques to pensioners

adies and gentlemen, we are a government with a clear understanding of what the issues and problems are and how Lwe need to go about solving these problems. You will recall that a commiee was set up to assess the liabilities that had accumulated over a period of six, seven years before our government came into existence, of accumulated pension and gratuity obligations.

When we came on board we received reports of the appalling situation but we made it clear that we were going to come up with a mechanism to address the problem.

Today in furtherance of promises that I made we are here to formally present a cheque of five hundred million naira to be disbursed as first installment for clearing the backlog. Let me reiterate that the problem which started some six, seven years ago wasnʹt caused by the present administration. Now this was very unfortunate, we shouldnʹt have allowed this to happen in the first place.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 253 I charged the commiee chaired by our head of service members who are all vey senior experienced people in this respect, to painstakingly verify the names of all the supposed retirees to get only genuine and verified persons paid their benefits. I say so because of the ghost workersʹ syndrome that we have which is still with us and which we are fighting. We will make further releases as the exercise progresses. I want to assure civil servants of this state that our restoration government has a lot for them. The payment of their gratuities and pensions is just one of the packages. We are serious about training them, and we are serious about supporting them and making them beer servants of the people of this state. But our government will also ask each and everyone of them to do their own part as well, to report for duty, as and when due and expected, to do their jobs diligently and selflessly in accordance with the rules and to be loyal servants, obedient servants to authority.

Civil servants are not to constitute themselves as opposition to any government. Civil servants are not expected to be partisan. Civil servants are simply what they are: civil servants. We will do our part by supporting them and very soon we will introduce insurance policy that will take care of the medical bills for them and their families. We will initiate programmes that will give them aﬀordable accommodation. We are funding education in a manner that aﬀects all families.

While we do all that. we will also not hesitate to identify and deal with erring civil servants. Those who want to act in opposition to every government, we will ease them out. Those who want to be businessmen, we will ease them out. Those who want to keep to the time tested traditions and norms of the civil service we will support them. Let me announce that I have just directed the veriﬁcation team to compile the list of absentee workers.

Unknown to most of them, we have been investigating people for some time now and we are geing set to release the list of people we have

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 254 found wanting. I have told the verification team to send their findings and reports to the head of service; and I hereby direct the head of service to act on them and let the disciplinary system kick off. I donʹt know anybody, I donʹt care to know whoever that is in that list. Iʹm not going to interfere and nobody should interfere. If there is any interference Iʹd like to know because we want a civil service that is professional; people cannot respect a civil service where anything goes.

On this note, I like to invite the head of service who is the chairman of the panel to receive this instrument of ﬁve hundred million naira, disburse it only to those cleared, veriﬁed retired civil servants, including the head of the estates who have passed on unfortunately without receiving their due pensions and gratuities.

It is very sad that a situation was allowed to happen whereby people who served for the beer part of their lives went home and some of them died without receiving their just reward.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 255 WALKING THE TALK

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 256 OUR COMMITMENT IS TO A TRULY INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY

Address at the signing of the Bayelsa State judiciary autonomy bill into law, on October 22 2012

short while ago, I signed into law the bill which seeks to guarantee the ﬁnancial autonomy of the judiciary of Bayelsa AState. And let me congratulate my Lord the Chief Judge and members of the judiciary of Bayelsa State for this day.

But let me also pay as usual, a tribute to the Rt. Hon. Speaker and members of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly for the prompt aention that they gave to this bill just as they have done to the bills that I sent to them in the past.

As my Lord the Chief Judge noted in her brief remarks, the constitution is very clear on the ﬁnancial autonomy of the judiciary but the constitution has not stipulated a framework for its implementation and execution. So what we have done is to underscore the importance that we aach to the issue of ﬁnancial autonomy of the Judiciary.

I have had the privilege of being a member of the Bar in this state. I have also had the privilege of serving as an AorneyGeneral of this state for

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 257 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON (R) SIGNING THE STATE JUDICIARY BILL INTO LAW, WHILE THE SPEAKER OF BHA, RT. HON. KONBOWEI BENSON (L) AND OTHER DIGNITARIES LOOK ON.

a very brief period and today, I sit as your Governor.

I thought we should create a legal framework not an administrative ﬁat that can be overruled by any other person but as part of our commitment to building institutions as opposed to building personal powers, I thought we should do it by way of a law, which will stand for all time until amended or revoked by the due process of the law itself.

So today we are all here as witnesses to history as the judiciary of the state starts on a new chapter. And let me congratulate the Chief Judge and members of the judiciary as well as the President of the Customary Court of Appeal.

And from today, with eﬀect from the life of the next budget, I or any other Governor that will come aer me will not have to treat approvals and requests from the judiciary anymore.

The judiciary should be trusted with the ability to manage itself both institutionally and most importantly, on ﬁnancial maers. And I want to use this opportunity to call on my colleagues to support the move for an independent judicial arm of government.

The judiciary is too important to be triﬂed with; not only is it the hope of

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 258 the common man, but also as I always say, every society is free according to the strength of its judiciary.

Our democracy is not safe; our democracy cannot be secured; the democratic rights and civil liberties guaranteed by our constitution cannot be protected unless we strengthen our judiciary, which alone has the constitutional authority to deepen our freedoms and protect our fundamental liberties and that is what we in Bayelsa have done.

I want to call on you my Lord and members of the judiciary to recognize that to whom much is given much is also expected. We have trust and conﬁdence in your ability and the ability of the President of the Customary Court of Appeal to manage your aﬀairs in accordance with the rules of the public service. And as long as you do so, let me assure you of my support going forward. We would like the judiciary under you, to be as I have always said, the best in this country. I have personal knowledge of all the judges.

Aer all, I used to appear before you all and knowing you the way I do, I have no doubt that this can truly be an outstanding judicial service in this country. I know that the judges in this state can hold their heads high professionally among their contemporaries in this country.

My Lord let me also say that this state has had its own political turmoil in terms of its leadership and somehow the judiciary has been aﬀected but I look forward to the professional judiciary that you have been known for.

There are so many things that are not even in your budget that we want to do. I have just given approval for the construction of the MultiDoor Court House because we want to encourage Alternative Dispute Resolution practice.

The economy that we are diversifying is such that we want people who are coming to stay here and do business to have conﬁdence in our

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 259 judiciary, not just the formal litigation aspect of it but also through the alternative way of dispute resolution.

The construction of that project will start in earnest and it is one project that is very dear to my heart. The other issue which is not in your budget which the government has also decided to take on in the next three weeks, is the construction of a beﬁing residential accommodation for the judiciary.

I have directed the Ministry of Lands and Housing and the Ministry of Works to liaise with you to identify a suitable area of land for the project to start. We hope to complete and put it to use next year. Where our judicial oﬃcers are staying is not ideal in view of the sensitive job that you do. So we want an estate that only members of the judiciary, (judges and magistrates) will occupy.

The Commissioner for Transport will also get in touch with you before the end of today, because we also want to provide beﬁing oﬃcial vehicles for all judges and magistrates in this state. I want to see that happen before this year runs out. I recall that the last time vehicles were given was when I was Aorney General which is quite sometime ago.

Let me thank you all for your presence but let me most importantly, congratulate My Lord the Chief Judge, President of the Customary Court of Appeal and Judges of the High Courts for your dedication to duty so far. We are all very proud of what you do and how you do your jobs.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 260 OUR EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM MUST DELIVER THE RIGHT RESULTS

Remarks to the Universal Basic Education Board and others

et me say with emphasis that teachers are the most critical elements in the educational system. They act as facilitators Lbetween the pupil/students and the environment and so it is important that we have the right kind and quality of teachers to be able to get the right result for our pupils and students.

And because of our emphasis on promoting science and ICT literacy at all levels, I have also directed the Ministry of Education, working in conjunction with the SUBEB and all other agencies to ﬁrst begin the recruitment of about 300350 teachers who will be deployed to all the primary and secondary schools in the state. I believe that the process will start in earnest and that exercise can be conducted and all these people who are just coming into the teaching ﬁeld can be exposed to the rudiments of teaching. That is why by tomorrow we will make appointments in the College of Education. We will also appoint somebody ho will be the director of the Teachersʹ Training Institute at Sagbama which is part of the College of Education so that the training

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 261 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON AND A CROSS SECTION OF HIS EXCO MEMBERS DURING THE 2012 WORLD TEACHERS DAY CELEBRATIONS IN YENAGOA and the retraining of the new people will be a continuous exercise.

Now as you all know, we are set to embark on largescale rehabilitation of the educational infrastructure. But from reports received, from all the various findings of the panels I have constituted to look into the maer, it is very clear that the ratio of academic and nonacademic staff in our primary schools is highly disturbing. We have on record 5,119 teachers. As a result of various malpractices and errors in judgment and misplacement of priority over the years as against this number of teachers which is 5,119 you have the number 4,287 of non academic staff working in various capacities or claiming to be working in various capacities as security personnel, cleaners and clerks costing this state government huge sums of money every month, monies that we feel can be beer deployed. So I have directed immediate right sizing of the number of nonacademic staff in our primary and secondary schools.

Our thinking is that there are a number of things that primary school pupils themselves and the communities, can also do. We will provide some level of security in the schools but we also feel that community leaders have a responsibility to protect government property including school buildings. As for cleaners, this state has to return to those days where students take primary responsibility for cleanliness of

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 262 themselves and also of their school surroundings. That is an essential part of promoting discipline and hard work and community responsibility. So very soon, the Ministry of Education will work with the relevant agencies to do some right sizing so that we can free up some of these funds for more productive investment in other priority areas. And because chairmen are here, let me say this: this is perhaps one of the states in the country where local governments have not been fulﬁlling their statutory obligation of running primary schools.

The normal situation is for the chairmen of local governments and local governments generally to be responsible for the running of primary education at least up to 70% and the state government intervenes and makes 30% contribution. But in this case, the reverse has been the case. From our last count, the state government bears eighty to ninety something percent of the cost of running primary education in this state; that has to be reviewed. Let me remind the chairmen who are here that such a situation is not acceptable. And going forward, government will work with you to ensure that you yourselves will take all the necessary decisions and actions that will free up some of your funds, some of your resources for this.

Education remains a priority for the state government but we want a situation where local governments also live up to their responsibility.

We will call a more detailed meeting with the ﬁnance ministry to discuss the ﬁnancials because we want you to perform your jobs.

Thank you very much for coming, and as you all know, very soon many elements of our free education programme will fall in place. The textbooks, the desks and other elements are all coming.

Education remains a priority for the state government but we want a situation where local governments also live up to their responsibility.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 263 PROJECTS MUST BE ON COURSE AND ON TARGET

Remarks at the presentation of the N3 billion cheque to SETRACO for the completion of the OgbiaNembe road project

n the course of our ʹThank You Tourʹ to our people, we saw at close Irange some of the needs and expectations of our people. I want to use this opportunity again to thank all our people for the kind and warm reception accorded me and my delegation in all the clans, local government areas and communities that we visited. I want to thank the kings, traditional rulers for the honour conferred on me and my deputy and our government.

I want to thank you also for the kind words and encouragement and show of support and solidarity that was so evident. I want to thank our youths and women and local government chairmen and all the people of the state for the rousing reception that was given to me and my entourage.

Now ladies and gentlemen, you know how the OgbiaNembe road has been, as we say in this country, ʹin the pipelineʹ.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 264 BAYELSA STATE GOVERNOR, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON ( LEFT ) PRESENTING PAYMENT INSTRUCTIONS TO THE AREA MANAGER, SETRACO, MR. BECHARA KARAM FOR THE CONSTRUCTION OF BAYELSA STATE WEST SENATORIAL ROAD AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE IN YENAGOA.

And these days, people are becoming impatient with things that stay in the pipeline for too long. If it does not come out of the pipeline fast enough, you know what they do to pipelines these days. That road is leading to a very critical area of our state and of our country. That is the road that will lead us to Brass Island. Brass Island is going to be the economic nucleus not just of our state but also of this country and the West African sub region. But we cannot get there unless we are able to get to Nembe ﬁrst.

I know that some eﬀorts were made to try and construct a road from Nembe to Brass but the ﬁrst thing to do by any pragmatic government is to see how we can get to Nembe from Ogbia and then the construction of the Nembe Brass road can start from Nembe. That is the practical way to go about it.

I am aware that SHELL AND NDDC have shown interest in that road and I want to thank them for that partnership, but it is a partnership that

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 265 has been going on for so long that our people are geing impatient and rightly so.

This is because we need to drive to Nembe at least while waiting for the road to Brass. And, so when I looked at the situation and heard the complaints from that area; the suﬀering of the people from that area and how on a daily basis innocent law abiding people suﬀer indignities and inconveniences and even sometimes occasional aacks by pirates and other bandits who take advantage of the creeks and rivulets in the area, it became clear that a government that means well must do something and fast.

And it has to be now and not tomorrow. And so, while we appreciate the partnership with our friends and development partners, particularly Shell Petroleum Development Company, SPDC and Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC for what they started on that road, we want to say it was a good partnership and we will continue to encourage it.

Because we are commied to the development of our state, whether it is a federal road or whether it is a partnership or not, we have a duty to drive it to conclusion because it is for the beneﬁt of the people.

Your government has decided to make available for the OgbiaNembe road project, the sum of N3 billion. Now, our partners have been notiﬁed and I have told them, this is a back up fund, available because we want them to complete the road and put it to use by next year, God willing. We want to be able to drive to Nembe.

We will tell our partners to still feel free to contribute their own quota to an account that we will designate but while we are doing all of these, we do not want the job to be at a standstill because one partner has failed to make his own contribution.

The N3 billion will be used by the contractor directly because this is the

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 266 amount needed for the completion of that road and we are not going to wait for SPDC and NDDC to provide that money; we are providing that money ourselves.

The contractor, SETRACO will utilize the N3 billion to ﬁnish the project and we will commission it on or before the end of next year.

The contractor has made a promise that the road will be completed by September next year but I am giving him up to December because we do not want to hear any excuse.

I will like to invite two people who are leaders and statesmen in the audience, who are also leaders from that senatorial district and who have also the responsibility to call the people of that area to order particularly the youths to ensure that the contractor gets maximum cooperation. It is on that note that I invite King Alfred Diete Spiﬀ and His Excellency, Walter Feghabo Amain to join me in the presentation of the cheque.

I want to commend the Royal Fathers and the people in the aﬀected local government areas; Ogbia and Nembe, because I know that the communities have been doing a lot; I know that commiees have been set up and working to ensure that communal issues are sorted out.

The point I am making is that whether compensation has been paid on any property or not, it should not result in stoppage of work again. While this is being taken care of, work should be going on. I do not want

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 267 the contractor to have any excuse to say it is one family or one set of youths that said unless we make payment to one shrine because one python was killed, unless we bury the python with N30 million, we will not do any work. I do not want to hear that kind of complaint anymore.

There may be reasons why compensation has to be paid if peopleʹs land and property are tampered with but please chiefs who are also very commied to the prompt completion of this job should rise up to the occasion and work with the contractor and government to ensure that all those communal issues are taken care of.

As for the youths, if you are looking for expatriates to kidnap, this is the wrong state for you to do so and do not go and disturb who is doing important jobs, because we will come aer you. It is on this note, ladies and gentlemen, that I will like to present the sum of N3 billion to our contractor.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 268 BAYELSA IN LOCKSTEP WITH THE PDP

Remarks during a solidarity visit by Bayelsa state PDP delegation to the new PDP chairman, Alhaji Adamu Muazu, at Wadata House, Abuja

ou have seen from the galaxy of personalities here that this is an important visit to the government, the party and the good Ypeople of Bayelsa state. Your Excellency, you know that our party has had very challenging moments, but we are gratified that God in his infinite wisdom intervened and we are where we are. We are gratified at your emergence at this very critical juncture in the life our party and therefore in the life of our nation. So we want to wish you well. We assure you that all these people you see here, the leaders of the entire people of Bayelsa are here to demonstrate our abiding loyalty and commitment to you, the Chairman and members of the working commiee of our party. We know that you have the experience, the contacts, the maturity and above all the dedication to duty that these times call for in terms of championing the reorganization of our party.

We know that you and the working commiee have already started, and in all of these and all you are going to continue to do for our party,

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 269 Mr. Chairman, I have the mandate of the good people of Bayelsa State and the mandate and authority of all my leaders here assembled and the several at home to let you know that you are not alone in this arduous assignment that you are entrusted with. For everything you are going to do, you will ﬁnd us not just behind you but we will stand shoulder to shoulder with you. All of us are praying for the success of the working commiee, and the success of your eﬀorts directed at re energizing the PDP.

The PDP, Mr. Chairman if I may recall, (because I am a student of political history in addition to being a lawyer) since the formation of political parties in this country till today, is the only party that has given a presidential nomination to somebody from our part of the country. Mr. Chairman, what the Peopleʹs Democratic Party has done with the election, the nomination ﬁrstly of the current President Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and his eventual election is like what the Democratic Party of the United States achieved for the American nation by facilitating the emergence of the ﬁrst black elected President, President Barack Obama.

Mr. Chairman, we have also challenged all other political tendencies in this country to see if they can beat that record of the PDP. We know that whereas other parties and ideologies are founded on the fault lines of our country, fault lines of religion, ethnicity, the party that you lead, our party that we are privileged and happy to be associated with as members, is the only national party that has the capacity to bring the various people of this country together.

Mr. Chairman, from our point of view and given where we come from, our Nigerianess was validated with the election of Dr. Jonathan. So we are here also to convey our gratitude and appreciation to PDP as a party, all its founding members, all our founding leaders and to the several millions of party followers and all Nigerians generally who went through thick and thin to bring about the realisation of that new Nigeria.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 270 We are aware of the sacriﬁces that were made, lives that were lost, properties that were willfully destroyed on the altar of politics to make the new Nigerian dream come true.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to also on behalf of my people underscore our appreciation, to let Nigerians know that we appreciate all that they did and that going forward, the PDP is more than a party to us. The PDP means something special to each and every one of us seated here and several others from all parts of this great country that we come from.

We are here to say ʹCongratulations sir, for your welldeserved elevation to this oﬃce.ʹ With the lile that we have known of you, your cosmopolitan nature, your spread and reach across the length and breadth of this country, your deep understanding of politics of mobilisation, your capacity for building consensus, and all the aributes that you have brought to bear on this very serious assignment, we have no doubt that with our prayers and with the support of our leaders you will succeed and we will have a more vibrant, reenergized PDP, a PDP that is able once again to reclaim its mantle of leadership, a party that has the capacity to weld this country together so that we can have a united, stable and prosperous Nigeria.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 271 ELECTIONS, FREE AND FAIR

Remarks and answers to the mediaʹs questions on the local government election in Toru Orua, Sagbama local government area on March 3, 2013

I commend the people that have conducted themselves peacefully so far and I believe that is the case in all the local government areas across the state. I am very pleased with the orderly conduct, the massive turn out and I like to commend all the voters and the candidates and the electoral body, for doing a good job.

I like to also use this opportunity to commend the diligence of the security agencies, which I believe, have been fully mobilized to ensure that todayʹs council polls go on without any hitch. I want to urge candidates to at the end of the day, accept the verdict of the people because that is what our democracy entails.

There can only be one winner and perhaps more than one loser. Whatever the verdict of our electorate, I want them to take it in good faith. There is always a second chance in politics.

QUESTION: this is the ﬁrst election we are witnessing under your administration. Going forward, what advice do you have for Bayelsans?

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 272 GOV. DICKSON CASTING HIS VOTE, DURING THE STATE LG ELECTIONS @ TORUORUA.

As far as the politics of the state are concerned, I can only assure them that part of our restoration aim is to ensure that in electoral maers, people at the grassroots, the people to whom power belongs have a say and that their vote counts. Today is a demonstration of that.

We have made sure that, unlike previous times, nothing is wrien or concocted in Government House, Yenagoa. And that is going to be our philosophy moving forward. I want to urge the people that they have a responsibility in democracy.

They should come out and freely exercise their franchise for their candidates and parties of their choice and that is the only way they can have a say as to who leads them. So I am very pleased with what is happening now.

I know that the local government election is going on everywhere in the state and for quite sometime, we have not seen how these things are done. In the communities, polling booths and wards, the peopleʹs sovereignty is being respected so I am very pleased that, that is what we are seeing.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 273 GOV. SERIAKE DICKSON ACKNOWLEDGING CHEERS FROM THE CROWD DURING THE FLAGOFF OF PDP LOCAL GOVT. ELECTION CAMPAIGNS

QUESTION: We have not seen any of the political party campaign. Do you think that is an indication that PDP will have a clean sweep of the votes?

You are entitled to speculate as the journalist that you are. My job is to respect the wishes of the people and the election has not been concluded so it will be premature to say which party will win, or which candidate will win. What I know is that I have promoted consensus to such a level that for the very ﬁrst time, you see stakeholders coming together to work for my party. I cannot talk about what other political parties are doing I can only speak for mine. And it is premature for us to speculate about the outcome of the polls that have just started.

I wish all political parties well. I want to urge all of them to take the verdict that the people will come up with at the end of the day in good faith.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 274 WE SHARE YOUR PAIN

Remarks shortly aer visiting accident victims of PDP National Congress in Abuja March 26, 2012

t was a very unfortunate incident but it could have been worse. We thank God that there was no fatality recorded so we are most Igrateful to God Almighty for His mercies. Our thoughts at moments like this are clearly with the families, relatives and their loved ones. Part of what we came to show is solidarity. We came to share in their feelings and their pains and above all to assure members of their families and their loved ones that even at moments like this they are not alone and that the PDP family, the Bayelsa family is one.

I have received preliminary reports from the physicians and by the way let me use this opportunity to thank the doctors and all health workers who worked very hard to deliver appropriate and needed medical aention. I have received preliminary reports and they indicate that all the patients are receiving proper and adequate aention and that their conditions are stable. I have also discussed with some of the victims and

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 275 I believe from the reports of the medical doctors taking care of them, in the next couple of weeks most of them would be on their way to their homes.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 276 TO THE YOUTH OF BAYELSA: YOUR FUTURE IS IN YOUR OWN HAND

Remarks at the sending forth of the ﬁrst batch of trainees to the Songhai Farms in Benin Republic on March 25, 2013

Let me commend the eﬀorts of my Commissioner for Agriculture, Dr. Thomas Commander who clearly is not just in charge but is commanding very well. We want you to command even beer.

Let me ﬁrst of all congratulate you all, the participants who have been selected through a very rigorous and competitive process as I have been told by the honorable commissioner. I want to congratulate you on behalf of the government and good people of Bayelsa State.

You mean so much to us. The young people of this state mean so much to us because you are not just the leaders of tomorrow but you are the real partners we want to have in building the great future for our people.

That is why we have come up with various programmes to give you the skills and knowledge that you need to enable you operate successfully in an increasingly competitive environment.

So I am delighted to be here and this is the ﬁrst batch of people we are

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 277 CROSS SECTION OF SONGHA BOUND TRAINEES going to send out for diﬀerent forms of training. There are several others that will go to other places, South Africa, Israel, all over the world. We would send young people to go there, acquire skills and come back.

Let me tell you brieﬂy our dreams, which I am sure the commissioner must have briefed you about in the course of his interactions with you.

We are seing up massive farms all over the state and shortly you will see that the biggest farms you will ever see in this country will be in Bayelsa, your state.

Now, when we set up these farms, there are people who will run them. We have technical partnership agreement already signed for massive cassava production. From Denmark and some other countries, they are going to be here.

We are in the process of working with the Israelis and others to set up very big ﬁsh farms. You are going to see the biggest ﬁsh farms in this country in Bayelsa State. This place is going to be number one in agriculture.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 278 As we speak, we are working with people to set up poultry farms, big ones. We are also seing up facilities that will buy up everything that will ever be produced in this state. We are working with people to create the markets, develop the storage facilities and prepare products for exports.

That is why we are passionately working to ensure that in collaboration with the Federal Government, we have an airport to facilitate transportation.

So my dear young people of Bayelsa, our dear partners in the new Bayelsa, I want to commend you and congratulate you. You are on a very important mission not just to empower yourselves and make a success of your lives; you are on a very serious assignment to ensure that we are selfsuﬃcient in food production.

The mission is also to ensure that we become number one in agriculture in this country. That is a very serious challenge you have. We know that these farms will need people to work in them and we do not want to set up farms and end up in a situation where only people from other places will come and man our own farms.

That is why you are now being selected and trained so that you will be active participants in the new agricultural revolution that is coming to your state. We know that training is key. So we are only sending you people for training. Soon we shall be seing up the School of Agriculture here.

Now that the budget is signed, we want to go about implementing it and I am very happy that there are some Israelis and some people from the Bank of Industry who want to work with us to develop that school.

Once our School of Agriculture is set, most of these courses you are going for, we are going to run here in Bayelsa. I was just telling the Commissioner for Agriculture that seeing the enthusiasm in our young Bayelsans willing to make a career out of this agricultural programme

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 279 coupled with the fact that some are graduates and even masters degree holders, here and now I have increased the number from 400 to 500 beneﬁciaries. So apart from you, he will select more persons to get to that number.

Let me use this opportunity to call on our young people to come and identify with this programme. You are doing what I always want our young people to do. When we challenge you, take the challenge and develop yourself.

I have told the young people of this state to take responsibility for their lives and leave a life of begging; this life of dependency. This life where young people hold other people responsible for their own lives from payment of house rents to buying vehicles, payment of their childrenʹs fees and taking care of their wives. That is slavery.

Those who do not like you as passionately as we do, want to keep you the way you are and give you peanuts and crumbs so that you will continue to struggle for the crumbs.

And during elections, they will use diﬀerent ways to bring you out and use you for violence, thuggery; use you to do things they will not allow their children to do. We love you very much and that is why we are oﬀering you a life of independence; a life of responsibility.

And I always use our own example to encourage you people. Most of us started small. I joined the Nigeria Police as a constable because I had to do something. I couldnʹt blame anybody for not having money to send me to the university even though all through the school ladder I was a

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 280 top student.

But I could not blame my parents or brothers. I did not believe in blaming people so I took the bull by the horn. There was nothing I did not do, no job that I did not do as long as it was legitimate. With my certiﬁcate I decided to enroll as a recruit, a constable and worked my way through.

Aer training, I registered for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination, aended classes and wrote the examinations before I went to study Law full time and did night duty for four years as a Police Constable. So in this life, there is no free meal.

Anybody who is telling you anything other than that is deceiving you. So when people say there is hunger, there is this and that, you are not working so why will you not be hungry? If you are not working, you will be hungry.

If you want to be a man or woman of your own standing, thank God because now you have a peopleoriented government passionate about changing your condition. We do not want to keep you the way you are and give you guns; we do not want to keep you the way you are and give you money to buy drugs and use you. No! That will be destroying your future.

You can be beer than us. Who knew I was going to be Governor here? Who knew that your president who started without shoes and bags would be President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?

So reject those who come and tell you there is an easy way out; there is no easy way out. You have to work to develop yourself.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 281 Even this training that you are going for I can see it clearly in your faces, it is not the end. It is the beginning of your lives.

From the knowledge you will acquire from this training and the support we will give to you, when you come back, it will be continuous progress for you. These are the young people of our dreams, the young men and women we want to support.

Now in this state, everything we eat here we do not produce. It is other people who produce pure water for us to buy; it is other people who establish poultry farms for us to buy their eggs; it is other people who even own all the shops here.

So the day their market association has one function or the other, they close down our markets and we will all be hungry. The day they say pure water trailer has broken down and pure water could not come into town, there will be no pure water at all. That is not the state we want.

Now the way forward is selfdevelopment and entrepreneurship, hard work. I am very happy with what I am seeing. I am very happy because you have shown us what is possible with our youths.

So apart from congratulating you all, my charge to you this aernoon, on behalf of your government and your people is, go ye and acquire knowledge and skills and turn yourselves to be captains and champions of your various ﬁelds of human endeavor.

We are sending you for training, paying everything, so yours is to sele down, be of good conduct, and let nothing bad be said of you people from Bayelsa. You owe me that. You owe yourselves that. You owe your families that too.

When you go, learn, acquire the skills that we want you to acquire and come back. As you come back in the next six months, we would have developed various facilities here at home that will support your growth and development.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 282 CROSS SECTION OF BENEFICIARIES OF LINCOLN UNIVERSITY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

We would have worked out various programmes of empowerment and upon your return we will support you to enable you set up poultry farms and other things because you know how to do it. That is why we are sending you.

Be good ambassadors of the new Bayelsa, not the old Bayelsa so that upon completion of the training, Songhai Farms will be asking us to bring more Bayelsans.

But if you do the reverse, even when we want to send, they will say, “ah, this Bayelsa people, keep your money, we no dey”. If they say so then it means that you are not being part of the change we are preaching. I want to thank you all and assure you that we are prepared to work with you to develop yourselves and develop our economy.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 283 TO GROW THE ECONOMY WE MUST GROW SMES

Remarks during a courtesy visit by D.G SMEDAN on April 29, 2013

Small and medium scale enterprises are the right way to go, particularly for an economy such as ours which is overdependent on products that come from outside our shores. Not just for Bayelsa, SME is the way to go for this country. I want to see this sector blossom in Bayelsa because that is the quickest way that we can create wealth and create employment, enable selfemployment and perhaps employ others and generate skills that our economy really needs.

This is one area that going forward, will form a major plan of our social investment policy. We have set aside some money for the sector, and if not for the delay that came from our collaboration with the Bank of Industry, by now we would have ﬁnished disbursing the one billion naira that was set aside last year. And this year, we also have money set aside for this.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 284 We want an economy where our people are active participants and critical stakeholders and who by so doing create wealth.

So we are interested in exploring the full range of opportunities that this collaboration has.

I want to thank you for everything you are doing particularly for giving Bayelsa special aention. That is very apt because this place requires intensiﬁed federal focus and aention so that we can combat some of the negative things that were associated with the state before my government came in.

Here in this state, I want to assure you that development of SMEʹs is a critical cornerstone of our restoration government. That is why we say we are broadening the base of our economy and we want people to come and do business here. But we also have to stimulate enterprise and train people in areas they can do very well in. A lot of our initiatives are agrobased. We cannot rest until we have created skills, expanded our economy in such a way that more people ﬁnd bearing within our economy.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 285 WELFARE FOR BAYELSAʹS ELDERLY

Speech at the presentation of monthly stipends to the elderly under the Bayelsa State welfare and social security scheme in Yenagoa on July 3, 2013

I have just signed into law the Bayelsa State Welfare and Social Security Scheme Bill. With the support of Mr. Speaker and honourable members of the House of Assembly, we now have a legal basis for the welfare scheme in this state.

For us in government, we are here to serve the people. Government belongs to the people not the other way round.

It is your government, my dear people of Bayelsa State. We will not stop at anything under my charge; the government of this great state will strive hard to meet your needs in all spheres of life. We have shown that some of these things are possible and all of us have parents, uncles, aunts and mothers. And very oen, because of the challenges of present day living, most of the children that our old people have are not readily available when needed. And we know that our old people due to no fault of theirs are sometimes le without the care and support that they rightly deserve. Old age is a good thing. In this state, we all desire to

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 286 BAYELSA STATE GOVERNOR, HON. SERIAKE DICKSON (LEFT) PRESENTING STIPENDS TO MADAM OKIYA OGBURA (2NDRIGHT) UNDER THE STATE MONTHLY STIPENDS TO THE ELDERLY WELFARE AND SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEME AT GOVERNMENT HOUSE IN YENAGOA, WHILE THE SSA TO THE GOVERNOR ON THE ELDERLY, KESEME WILSON (RIGHT STANDING) AND OTHER BENEFICIARIES LOOK ON.

grow old as do our young people. We have also resolved to take care of our aged parents. That is why your government has come up with this scheme.

Under this social security scheme and working closely with the Assembly and all other structures of government, every person who is 75 years of age and above, who is not a pensioner, who is not in any private or government employment, will be entitled to this monthly stipend.

This is in line with the law the House of Assembly has made and I agree with it. It is not a salary as they are not meant to be doing any work at this age.

It is the responsibility of government run by your children to support you, so by the bill that I have signed into law every person who is an indigene of Bayelsa State, who is 75 years and above will be entitled to this support.

Now, we have worked out a mechanism for reaching out to you

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 287 wherever you are. This is because you are not expected to pay your way down to Yenagoa to collect this stipend.

The G32, our chairmen of the Rural Development Authorities of the state, have primary responsibility for this by the law I have just signed.

Every month, our G32 Chairmen and their oﬃcers will reach all the people that have already been captured to pay this stipend. The Assembly has oversight functions to perform in the implementation of the welfare scheme.

The mechanisms that we have devised is such that the names will be veriﬁed from the community level, so the community traditional rulers, Community Development Commiee (CDC) chairmen will jointly sign and authenticate the age and entitlement of the persons living in their communities.

These should be sent to the G32 Chairman who will process them and then send a copy to the Governorʹs special representatives in all the local government headquarters. The special representatives will collate it and take to the assemblymen, constituency by constituency.

This is because complaints will be coming to them and I want every assemblyman to go through that list and sign oﬀ. The signature of the assemblymen on the list coming from the community will be the ﬁnal seal of authenticity.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 288 The authenticated names will be collated by the Ministry of Women and Social Development and then sent for payment. But in addition to all of these, the assembly will still be entitled to quarterly reports about the implementation of this policy.

We are not, my dear people creating an avenue for fraud with this policy; we are not creating an opportunity for people to impersonate old people; we are not creating an opportunity for people who are not from Bayelsa State to come and claim that they are from Bayelsa State because there is penalty for all of that.

And so let me at this point draw the aention of those people who have a duty to perform as I have highlighted above, particularly the CDC Chairmen, traditional rulers of the various communities and the G32 workers who will process it down the line, that once we notice or suspect any fraud, we will deal with it purely as a crime.

In this state, we have a penchant for colouring criminal activities in diﬀerent guises. When people commit crimes, they join secret cults and kill people and do terrible things. Once you arrest them, they will say it is ʹʹa political arrest; it is a political maerʹʹ.

They say it is because they are not supporting you or because they had supported somebody else. But let me sound a note of warning that this government under me will not ﬂinch when we are doing what is right and proper.

So people who will play one role or the other in this scheme should be careful. The government is watching, the assembly will have oversight and the security agencies will be called in from time to time.

It is on this note, ladies and gentlemen that I want to thank our senior citizens of this state that continue to support our government, pray for our government, pray for us and your children so that this scheme, with the way we have started it, will be a model for others to look up to in no distant time.

THE ART OF DELIVERY BY HENRY SERIAKE DICKSON 289